Manchester and London, UK, 19 January, 2015 – C4X Discovery Holdings plc (C4XD), a leader in rational drug discovery and design, announced today that it has entered into a research agreement with Evotec. Under the agreement C4XD’s proprietary NMR-based technology and conformational design expertise will combine with Evotec’s extensive biology and chemistry expertise. The aim is to develop several series of Orexin-1 selective inhibitors, building on elements of the substantial work which C4XD has previously conducted in the field of specific Orexin inhibitors.
Activation of the orexin-1 receptor in the brain is associated with stress related addictive disorders (e.g. for alcohol, nicotine, cocaine and opiates), while the activation of the orexin-2 receptor is associated with biorhythms and wakefulness. Identification and development of selective compounds that inhibit the orexin-1 pathway thus should provide treatments for addiction avoiding the sedative effects associated with inhibition of orexin-2.
C4XD has the only technology in the world that can generate accurate, experimentally-derived dynamic solution 3D structures of drug molecules in just a matter of days, helping to accelerate product development. It can be used in conjunction with existing technologies for structure-based drug design and can make a particularly high impact when protein crystallography is not routinely available, as is the case for GPCRs (such as Orexin receptors) and ion channels.
The technology can also be applied to help identify and generate novel crystal polymorph forms, with exciting potential applications in the life cycle management of existing branded pharmaceuticals.
Piers Morgan, CEO of C4XD, said “Through this collaboration with Evotec, we expect our novel biological discoveries and medical insights will be effectively and efficiently progressed into a state-of-the-art drug discovery and development programme. The collaboration is already demonstrating the benefit of an alliance in accelerating drug discovery projects.”
Dr Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of Evotec said “We are delighted to work with C4XD on this strategic collaboration. C4XD have an exciting technology that can really revolutionise how rational drug design is conducted, particularly on targets like Orexin where the conformation of drug-like ligands is particular important to on-target potency. With Evotec’s complementary expertise in computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry and pharmacology we look forward to help drive C4XD’s objective to develop compounds to treat addictive disorders.”
No financial details were disclosed.
