Vitae regains rights to renin inhibitor program

Vitae Pharmaceuticals, an emerging US pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of innovative small-molecule medicines, has reacquired full rights to its renin inhibitor program from GlaxoSmithKline.

"We are excited to regain full ownership and control of our promising renin program as we prepare to enter our lead compound into clinical trials in 2009," said chief executive Jeffrey Hatfield. "Renin continues to be a much sought-after target, and our team has been one of the few that has been able to generate highly potent and bioavailable inhibitors that we believe will lead to important drug candidates in this large market," he added.

Richard Gregg, chief scientific officer, said: "we expect to target hypertension, diabetic nephropathy, congestive heart failure and related cardiovascular indications after completing Investigational New Drug-enabling toxicity studies."