AiCuris will use the high quality integrated drug discovery platform i2c of CRELUX and 4SC Discovery to identify novel therapeutics for infectious diseases
PLANEGG-MARTINSRIED and WUPPERTAL, Germany I November 4, 2013 I 4SC AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: VSC), a discovery and development company of targeted small molecule drugs mainly focusing on cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced that 4SC Discovery GmbH, CRELUX GmbH and AiCuris GmbH & Co. KG have started a drug discovery collaboration to identify and validate novel small molecule compounds targeting pathogen-specific interactions in infectious diseases. The collaboration is a further proof for the innovative capacity and the high quality standard of the joint integrated drug discovery platform i2c (‘idea-to-candidate’), operated by 4SC Discovery and CRELUX.
Based on i2c, CRELUX and 4SC Discovery will discover and optimize small molecule compounds with the goal to deliver high quality drug candidates for a novel anti-infectious therapeutic approach by AiCuris. A virtual screening approach using 4SC’s proprietary 4SCan(R) method will be performed to identify various inhibitors to the therapeutic target. Compounds identified as potential inhibitors of the respective target will be verified by using both, established assays at AiCuris and the INTRACT in vitro screening systems at CRELUX. In the course of the further discovery process, protein structures of verified hits with the target will be solved by i2c to enable rational design and guide the further chemical optimization.
Prof. Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff, CEO of AiCuris comments: ‘We are dedicated to fill our early pipeline with highly innovative next generation drugs against infectious diseases with high medical need and which are also active against resistant pathogens. These may be derived from in house research, from licensing or from collaborations.’ Dr. Holger Zimmermann, Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer at AiCuris adds: ‘Based on our good experience in collaborating with 4SC we expect to identify soon first promising hits for further evaluation in our screening cascades. This collaboration is an important contribution to our in house research efforts and supports our goal to discover highly efficacious drugs which help to solve major problems in treating infectious diseases.’
Dr. Michael Schaeffer, Executive Director Strategy and Business of CRELUX GmbH, comments: ‘This collaboration is a further proof of the value i2c brings to its clients’ drug discovery programmes. With Aicuris, we see a perfect fit of ideas, technologies and know-how and are especially pleased to have gained yet another innovative and reknowned biotech company from Germany as a partner. With this partnership, CRELUX and 4SC Discovery continue to build on their joint strategy to position themselves as premium solution providers to the global pharma and biotech industry covering the complete drug discovery value chain.’
Dr. Daniel Vitt, Managing Director of 4SC Discovery GmbH and Chief Scientific Officer at 4SC AG, comments: ‘The selection of i2c as drug discovery platform for AiCuris is an important step in our strategy to become Europe’s leading partner for innovative and high quality drug discovery projects. We are particularly delighted, since this new collaboration is built on our long-term trustful relationship and former successful collaborations between AiCuris and 4SC, now targeting next generation high therapeutic needs in antiinfective drug discovery.’
The i2c platform operates on a seamlessly integrated suite of technologies including virtual high throughput screening, molecular modelling, X-ray crystallography, in vitro and cell based screening, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. CRELUX and 4SC Discovery are offering integrated drug discovery solutions to clients from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry covering the entire value chain of early-stage pharmaceutical research and drug discovery.
Ends
About AiCuris (www.aicuris.com)
AiCuris GmbH & Co KG is a privately held biopharmaceutical company located in Wuppertal, Germany and specializes in research and clinical development of drugs against infectious diseases. Its portfolio comprises innovative and resistance-breaking drugs against the Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV, licensed to Merck & Co), Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as well as against resistant Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial infections in hospitals. Furthermore, two immune modulators complement AiCuris’ portfolio. One of these is directed against viral hepatitis B and fibrosis, the other against autoimmune diseases. AiCuris develops compounds up to phase II and offers these to partners for licenses/collaborations and in-licenses innovative early stage projects in addition to its in-house research.
About i2c drug discovery services (www.i2c-discovery.com)
The integrated drug discovery platform i2c (idea to candidate) was set up with the mission to enable its partners to perform their work better, faster, more efficiently and more successfully by providing a flexible, expert team and leading discovery technologies. It offers a seamless process from early concept through to a preclinical development candidate ready to advance into formal animal model testing and thereafter into clinical trials. The i2c partners are pharma companies looking to outsource part of their early discovery projects and also small and mid-size biotech companies lacking the relevant expertise and infrastructure. Besides the standard fee-for-service offerings i2c also includes research collaborations based on risk sharing models including milestones and royalties. These collaborations are provided as tailor made solutions for smaller sized companies and interested pharma partners.
4SC and CRELUX have a long and successful track record in the discovery and development of novel drugs. Both partners are adding their synergistic competencies to i2c. CRELUX is a leading company in advancing innovations in protein production, crystallography and compound screening. Next to its strong in silico screening and medicinal chemistry capacities, 4SC Discovery adds to that a team of experienced pharmacologists that has successfully brought a number of small molecule drugs from discovery to clinical trials.
About CRELUX GmbH
CRELUX (www.crelux.com) specializes in tailor made protein, in-vitro screening and protein crystallography drug discovery. The company is a professional and dedicated contract research company for the global pharma and biotech industry. CRELUX is privately owned and fully independent of external shareholders which facilitate quick decision making and efficient operations. The company is committed to long-term development and growth based on its broad portfolio of drug discovery projects and technologies that are seamlessly integrated into our i2c (idea to candidate) programs which include target to hit and concept to early development candidate projects.
CRELUX is a client focused discovery and research partner with a portfolio of premium technologies and top level protein expertise. In PRIME PROTEIN programs we are advancing innovations in protein expression to promote the availability of high quality proteins for use in drug discovery and diagnostics. Our XPRESS portfolio of readily available crystallographic targets grants turn-around times within a few weeks. The XPERT crystallography platform from concept to high resolution complex structure as well as in vitro compound and fragment screening based on our unique screening technology INTRACT are available under individual agreements.
About 4SC Discovery GmbH and 4SC Group
4SC Discovery GmbH (www.4sc-discovery.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of 4SC AG, specialises in the early-stage research and discovery of novel therapeutic compounds against cancer and autoimmune diseases. 4SC Discovery engages in partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies in order to advance the development and commercialisation of its own therapeutic programmes. In adition, as a drug discovery service provider 4SC Discovery offers its expertise via research collaborations to companies from the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. 4SC Group (www.4sc.com) focuses on the discovery and clinical development of targeted small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases in order to enhance patients’ quality of life. The company was founded in 1997 and has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since December 2005.
SOURCE: 4SC Discovery GmbH
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AiCuris will use the high quality integrated drug discovery platform i2c of CRELUX and 4SC Discovery to identify novel therapeutics for infectious diseases
PLANEGG-MARTINSRIED and WUPPERTAL, Germany I November 4, 2013 I 4SC AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: VSC), a discovery and development company of targeted small molecule drugs mainly focusing on cancer and autoimmune diseases, today announced that 4SC Discovery GmbH, CRELUX GmbH and AiCuris GmbH & Co. KG have started a drug discovery collaboration to identify and validate novel small molecule compounds targeting pathogen-specific interactions in infectious diseases. The collaboration is a further proof for the innovative capacity and the high quality standard of the joint integrated drug discovery platform i2c (‘idea-to-candidate’), operated by 4SC Discovery and CRELUX.
Based on i2c, CRELUX and 4SC Discovery will discover and optimize small molecule compounds with the goal to deliver high quality drug candidates for a novel anti-infectious therapeutic approach by AiCuris. A virtual screening approach using 4SC’s proprietary 4SCan(R) method will be performed to identify various inhibitors to the therapeutic target. Compounds identified as potential inhibitors of the respective target will be verified by using both, established assays at AiCuris and the INTRACT in vitro screening systems at CRELUX. In the course of the further discovery process, protein structures of verified hits with the target will be solved by i2c to enable rational design and guide the further chemical optimization.
Prof. Helga Rübsamen-Schaeff, CEO of AiCuris comments: ‘We are dedicated to fill our early pipeline with highly innovative next generation drugs against infectious diseases with high medical need and which are also active against resistant pathogens. These may be derived from in house research, from licensing or from collaborations.’ Dr. Holger Zimmermann, Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer at AiCuris adds: ‘Based on our good experience in collaborating with 4SC we expect to identify soon first promising hits for further evaluation in our screening cascades. This collaboration is an important contribution to our in house research efforts and supports our goal to discover highly efficacious drugs which help to solve major problems in treating infectious diseases.’
Dr. Michael Schaeffer, Executive Director Strategy and Business of CRELUX GmbH, comments: ‘This collaboration is a further proof of the value i2c brings to its clients’ drug discovery programmes. With Aicuris, we see a perfect fit of ideas, technologies and know-how and are especially pleased to have gained yet another innovative and reknowned biotech company from Germany as a partner. With this partnership, CRELUX and 4SC Discovery continue to build on their joint strategy to position themselves as premium solution providers to the global pharma and biotech industry covering the complete drug discovery value chain.’
Dr. Daniel Vitt, Managing Director of 4SC Discovery GmbH and Chief Scientific Officer at 4SC AG, comments: ‘The selection of i2c as drug discovery platform for AiCuris is an important step in our strategy to become Europe’s leading partner for innovative and high quality drug discovery projects. We are particularly delighted, since this new collaboration is built on our long-term trustful relationship and former successful collaborations between AiCuris and 4SC, now targeting next generation high therapeutic needs in antiinfective drug discovery.’
The i2c platform operates on a seamlessly integrated suite of technologies including virtual high throughput screening, molecular modelling, X-ray crystallography, in vitro and cell based screening, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology. CRELUX and 4SC Discovery are offering integrated drug discovery solutions to clients from the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry covering the entire value chain of early-stage pharmaceutical research and drug discovery.
Ends
About AiCuris (www.aicuris.com)
AiCuris GmbH & Co KG is a privately held biopharmaceutical company located in Wuppertal, Germany and specializes in research and clinical development of drugs against infectious diseases. Its portfolio comprises innovative and resistance-breaking drugs against the Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV, licensed to Merck & Co), Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) as well as against resistant Gram positive and Gram negative bacterial infections in hospitals. Furthermore, two immune modulators complement AiCuris’ portfolio. One of these is directed against viral hepatitis B and fibrosis, the other against autoimmune diseases. AiCuris develops compounds up to phase II and offers these to partners for licenses/collaborations and in-licenses innovative early stage projects in addition to its in-house research.
About i2c drug discovery services (www.i2c-discovery.com)
The integrated drug discovery platform i2c (idea to candidate) was set up with the mission to enable its partners to perform their work better, faster, more efficiently and more successfully by providing a flexible, expert team and leading discovery technologies. It offers a seamless process from early concept through to a preclinical development candidate ready to advance into formal animal model testing and thereafter into clinical trials. The i2c partners are pharma companies looking to outsource part of their early discovery projects and also small and mid-size biotech companies lacking the relevant expertise and infrastructure. Besides the standard fee-for-service offerings i2c also includes research collaborations based on risk sharing models including milestones and royalties. These collaborations are provided as tailor made solutions for smaller sized companies and interested pharma partners.
4SC and CRELUX have a long and successful track record in the discovery and development of novel drugs. Both partners are adding their synergistic competencies to i2c. CRELUX is a leading company in advancing innovations in protein production, crystallography and compound screening. Next to its strong in silico screening and medicinal chemistry capacities, 4SC Discovery adds to that a team of experienced pharmacologists that has successfully brought a number of small molecule drugs from discovery to clinical trials.
About CRELUX GmbH
CRELUX (www.crelux.com) specializes in tailor made protein, in-vitro screening and protein crystallography drug discovery. The company is a professional and dedicated contract research company for the global pharma and biotech industry. CRELUX is privately owned and fully independent of external shareholders which facilitate quick decision making and efficient operations. The company is committed to long-term development and growth based on its broad portfolio of drug discovery projects and technologies that are seamlessly integrated into our i2c (idea to candidate) programs which include target to hit and concept to early development candidate projects.
CRELUX is a client focused discovery and research partner with a portfolio of premium technologies and top level protein expertise. In PRIME PROTEIN programs we are advancing innovations in protein expression to promote the availability of high quality proteins for use in drug discovery and diagnostics. Our XPRESS portfolio of readily available crystallographic targets grants turn-around times within a few weeks. The XPERT crystallography platform from concept to high resolution complex structure as well as in vitro compound and fragment screening based on our unique screening technology INTRACT are available under individual agreements.
About 4SC Discovery GmbH and 4SC Group
4SC Discovery GmbH (www.4sc-discovery.com), a wholly-owned subsidiary of 4SC AG, specialises in the early-stage research and discovery of novel therapeutic compounds against cancer and autoimmune diseases. 4SC Discovery engages in partnerships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies in order to advance the development and commercialisation of its own therapeutic programmes. In adition, as a drug discovery service provider 4SC Discovery offers its expertise via research collaborations to companies from the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. 4SC Group (www.4sc.com) focuses on the discovery and clinical development of targeted small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases in order to enhance patients’ quality of life. The company was founded in 1997 and has been listed on the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since December 2005.
SOURCE: 4SC Discovery GmbH
Post Views: 304
