Courier molecular glue cutting-edge once again reached a research and development cooperation, pointing to neurological diseases

▎WuXi AppTec Content Team Editor Today, Plexium announced that it has entered into a research and development agreement with AbbVie to jointly develop innovative targeted protein degradation therapies for neurological diseases
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The collaboration will combine AbbVie's extensive capabilities in neuroscience with Plexium's comprehensive targeted protein degradation platform to develop innovative therapeutics against historically challenging targets
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Previously, the company reached a $500 million R&D cooperation with Amgen and completed a $102 million financing
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Although scientists have found that many specific proteins are closely related to human diseases, many of them are difficult to find small molecules or antibody drugs that can bind to them.
These proteins are also called "undruggable" targets
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Targeted protein degraders attach a ubiquitin "tag" to the target protein by binding it to the E3 ubiquitin ligase, allowing them to be recognized and degraded by the proteasome in the cell
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To date, most targeted protein degraders are bivalent molecules that bind to the target protein at one end and to components of the degradation machinery (such as E3 ligases) at the other end
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Plexium focuses on developing monovalent degraders
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Plexium's TPD platform enables the identification and evaluation of cell-active degrader drug candidates in the context of disease-relevant cells through phenotypic screening of libraries of DNA-encoded compounds
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As a unique drug discovery engine, it is designed to identify novel small molecules that bind to E3 ligases
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This small molecule can bind to the target protein or E3 ligase alone, resulting in a change in protein conformation that ultimately degrades the target protein
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In addition, this platform is ideal for studying E3 ligases and the effects of modulating E3 ligase activity on cellular phenotypes, and can be used to identify novel small molecules that bind E3 ligases, optimized for specific activity profiles
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▲ Plexium's TPD platform screening process (Image source: Plexium's official website) According to the cooperation agreement, Plexium will conduct preclinical research on the cooperative targets, and then AbbVie will give priority to R&D projects for continued development
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Plexium receives an upfront payment and is eligible for additional milestone payments
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AbbVie will be responsible for the global development and commercialization of the collaborative project
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Mr.
Percival Barretto-Ko, President and CEO of Plexium, said: "Neuroscience is one of the most difficult therapeutic areas to develop new medicines, with limited successful treatment modalities due to the complexity of disease pathology
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Combining our comprehensive platform with AI With BoVie's expertise in this area, we have the opportunity to develop innovative degraders targeting multiple high-value targets, ultimately improving the lives of patients
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"Reference: [1] Abbvie and Plexium Enter into Multi-target Strategic Collaboration to Develop and Commercialize Targeted Protein Degradation Therapies for Neurological Conditions.
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