Ardea Biosci acquires IP from Valeant Pharma

Ardea Biosciences, formerly known as IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals, has acquired, for an undisclosed sum, intellectual property and other assets from fellow USA-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals, in its effort to develop three drug programs focused on the development of novel treatments for HIV, cancer and inflammatory diseases.

Ardea's lead program, the 800 Series, is currently in late preclinical stages of development, and is directed toward the discovery of non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors for the potential treatment of HIV. The lead clinical candidate is AR806. In vitro tests have shown the agent to inhibit a wide range of viral isolates.