Peptone, a biotech company developing novel therapeutics targeting intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) to treat diseases, today announced a partnership with Evotec to accelerate and scale the creation of small molecule IDP-targeted treatments across diverse therapeutic areas. Through the collaboration, Peptone will harness Evotec's drug discovery toolbox — encompassing deep domain expertise in oncology and immunology, extensive assay development know-how, and state-of-the-art screening capabilities — to seamlessly integrate with its pioneering, physics-based approach to understanding IDP structural dynamics.

"Our novel strategy to industrialize Peptone's proprietary ultra-fast Hydrogen-Deuterium Exchange Mass Spectrometry (HDX-MS) platform and Evotec's cutting-edge medicinal chemistry expertise is crucial for transforming our unique structural insights into viable therapeutic approaches," said Dr. Kamil Tamiola, physicist and Chief Executive Officer of Peptone. "Evotec's commitment to innovation positions them as an optimal partner in addressing the intricacies of drug design for IDPs and facilitating the introduction of effective therapies to the market."

While traditional drug design is limited to fixed protein structures, Peptone's bespoke HDX-MS platform reveals novel structural insights for dynamic, disordered proteins regardless of protein size or complexity, identifying IDP pockets for targeting that have remained undetectable to traditional structural biochemistry methodologies and AI approaches. By integrating breakthrough science with AI-powered platforms and advanced technologies, Evotec possesses the capabilities to create life-changing medicines at speed and with precision. The collaboration seeks to eliminate the traditional bottleneck in early target selection and allows for the rapid, scalable generation of tractable chemical matter, designed to target a range of IDPs with Peptone-identified pockets. Selection of programs will focus on pockets that have been successfully drugged based on in vitro evidence of target modulation.

"We are thrilled to enter this partnership with Peptone as it unlocks the opportunity to advance novel therapies against previously intractable targets that are known to play important role(s) in cancer, autoimmunity, and beyond," said Dr. Cord Dohrmann, Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec. "We believe the integration of Evotec's comprehensive drug discovery platform with Peptone's technology for mapping intrinsically disordered proteins as druggable targets will enable development of viable drug candidates with unprecedented speed and efficiency, at scale, without sacrificing quality."

Source: prnewswire.com