Immtech Pharma to Start JV with Beijing Capital Medical University

Immtech Pharmaceuticals (IMM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Beijing Capital Medical University [BCMU] to establish a joint venture that provides contract research services [CRS] in China. The joint venture will provide drug discovery services.

The JV, which will begin operations later this year, will initially focus on research planning and risk assessment through the preclinical and clinical study design phases. Eventually, it will support later-stage clinical development including coordination with research sites, data management, monitoring and reporting for clinical research programs.

Immtech is a newcomer to the CRS/CRO space. Its traditional focus has been on drug development, particularly in treatments for infectious diseases. It is currently focusing on compounds for hepatitis C, drug-resistant Gram-positive bacteria and fungal infections. Recently, Immtech released positive results from preclinical tests of its hepatitis C drug. Immtech’s fortunes had a severe setback in late 2007 when its lead drug candidate, pafuramidine, a treatment for AIDS-related pneumonia and African sleeping sickness, was withdrawn from clinical trials following worries about side effects. An arm of the pafuramidine trial was being conducted in China.

Established in 1960, Beijing Capital Medical University [BCMU] includes 10 schools, 14 affiliated hospitals and one teaching institution. It employs about 20,000 staff members, including six members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences or the Chinese Academy of Engineering, more than 1,000 professors, and 2,000 associate professors. BCMU has over 9,000 enrolled students in its doctorate, masters, and bachelors degree programs and specialty certifications.

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