Proteros biostructures GmbH, situated in Munich, has expanded its epigenetic medicine collaboration with AstraZeneca. This multi-year extension builds on a contract signed in June 2021. Small molecule inhibitors for a further cancer-associated epigenetic protein will now be included.
Epigenetics is the study of how genes are activated or deactivated in various settings and environments. Proteros’ technology platform allows for great selectivity across several protein families for a given target variant. AstraZeneca is providing Proteros with unspecified new research funding as part of the new agreement. In addition, the company will be eligible for $75 million in R & D and commercial milestones, as well as graded royalties on yearly net sales. The inclusion of an additional drug discovery programme into their partnership with AstraZeneca demonstrates their successful continued engagement to discover select inhibitors for notoriously difficult disease targets, said Torsten Neuefeind, Ph.D., Proteros’ chief executive officer. This agreement enhances their partnership with a worldwide biopharmaceutical company, and they look forward to collaborating again in the future to identify novel inhibitors that have the potential to better treat cancer patients.
