Motif biosciences inc

Motif BioSciences, Inc.
A Discovery Engine for the Pharmaceutical Industry


Drug Discovery: New opportunities
Motif BioSciences has expanded its scientific focus and business model into a discovery engine
for the pharmaceutical industry. The company is taking advantage of the radical shift in the
pharmaceutical industry’s model of drug discovery towards an increasing reliance on
partnerships or licensing arrangements with small companies to support its pipeline. This shift
presents numerous opportunities for smart new players such as Motif in the drug discovery
arena:
• Firstly, the number and value of licensing–in transactions from small companies to Big Pharma is growing rapidly, with up-front fees of $20-70 million or more being paid for new drug candidates with proof of concept in man; • Secondly, industry consolidation has resulted in our ability to recruit highly experienced • Thirdly, the advent of low cost outsourcing companies in Asia and Eastern Europe with proven expertise in chemistry and other disciplines has made it possible for Motif to implement the expansion of its business model without substantial internal infrastructure.
A World Class Team
Motif has recruited the “A” team of drug discovery: senior drug discovery and development
executives who have spent decades at the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies
successfully developing major new drug classes. Their disciplines include medicinal and
computational chemistry, biology, toxicology, pharmacology, drug metabolism and drug
development. The caliber, track record and vast experience of the Motif team, and their close
involvement in guiding every step of the plan, make this a powerful engine for drug discovery.

330 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA Tel: (609) 375 2043 / Fax: (212) 210 6271 / Name / Company
Drug
Disease Area
Peak
Role
Sales
($B)
Merck P. Kalyanaraman, Ph.D., Mulitple Programs
Best-in-Class Drugs
Motif has developed a detailed plan to develop proprietary, best-in-class new drug candidates,
building on the experience of our team in Lead Hopping: taking proven, first-in-class drugs
developed by the pharmaceutical industry and improving on their chemical structures and
clinical profiles to develop best-in-class new drug candidates. In drug discovery, the first-in-class
compound is rarely the best-in-class drug that enjoys superior performance in the market.
Over the past few months, the Motif team has completed an extensive review of first-in-class
drugs that have clearly defined but addressable liabilities. We have applied a rigorous set of
criteria designed to maximize the probability of success of each project, including: validated
drug targets; well understood lead molecules with clear proof of concept of the mechanism in
man; tractable chemistry; potential for meaningful clinical differentiation versus the first in class
drug; and intellectual property freedom to operate.
330 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA Tel: (609) 375 2043 / Fax: (212) 210 6271 /
Motif’s first five projects are in migraine, obesity, infectious disease, rheumatoid arthritis and
overactive bladder; each project is supported by a well articulated rationale and plan to develop a
best-in-class new drug candidate within approximately four years.
The Motif drug discovery team is based in the United States, and is in the process of partnering
with specialized contract research organizations in China and India to conduct the chemistry,
biology and pre-clinical development of our compounds in an iterative and highly dynamic
process.
A Distinctive and De-risked Model
We have built our drug discovery plan on a de-risked research and business model. Our research
focus is limited to targets, mechanisms and drugs which have already been proven to work. Our
research scope excludes the speculative early phase of drug discovery, including novel
mechanisms and experimental, first-in-class compounds, of biotech companies. It excludes the
expensive, risky late phase of drug development undertaken by pharmaceutical companies to
achieve regulatory approval of new medicines. The Motif approach is relatively quick,
predictable, low cost and extremely focused: to build on the knowledge of proven, first-in-class
compounds; to leverage the expertise of our team in “smart and nimble” chemistry, pre-clinical
and early clinical development; to develop proprietary best-in-class new drug candidates to the
proof of concept stage within approximately four years, and to license them out to
pharmaceutical companies. We are very confident about the timelines, and we believe that even
within that four year period we will be creating value that we can monetize in various ways
almost continuously, a process which has already started. Copious industry data shows that the
up-front fees being paid by pharmaceutical companies for good drug candidates at this stage of
development range from $ 20 -70 million upwards. In addition, there are potential down-stream
royalties and milestone payments that could accrue to Motif if our drug candidates make it
further into development and to market, but none of these potential revenues have been built into
our business model.
Motif is seeking to raise additional capital to progress the drug discovery program and to start
chemistry and biology on at least four projects. The company’s approach is to conduct its
programs and to plan its funding needs in a modular manner, starting with a relatively modest
amount and scaling up to the next development stage of each project & the initiation of new
projects, based on specific milestones and deliverables achieved. The company is confident that
the first key milestones- patent applications on proprietary, potentially best-in-class pre-clinical
candidates- can be achieved within the first 18 months with this investment.
330 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10017 USA Tel: (609) 375 2043 / Fax: (212) 210 6271 /

Source: http://www.motifbio.com/docs/Motif_Executive_Summary.pdf