Roche Inks Discovery, Development Pacts

Roche and Raptor Pharmaceuticals have entered a collaborative research agreement in which Roche will fund studies of the therapeutic delivery of select molecules across the blood-brain barrier (BBB) using Raptor's proprietary NeuroTrans BBB transporter platform. The agreement grants Roche exclusive worldwide license to NeuroTrans for use in delivering therapeutic and diagnostic molecules. Roche also signed a collaboration agreement with SeqWright, a DNA-sequencing firm, and the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine to identify possible genetic variants associated with dilated cardiomyopathy, a disease of the heart muscle. Financial terms were not disclosed.