BioTheryX, a privately-held company, and Incyte (Nasdaq:INCY) have formed a research collaboration and license agreement. Their focus is on discovering and developing molecular glue targeted protein degraders for oncology targets.
Several other privately-held companies also focus on protein degradation. Examples include Kymera Therapeutics (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Arvinas (New Haven, Connecticut), Nurix Therapeutics (San Francisco), Cullgen (San Diego) and Vividion Therapeutics (La Jolla, California).
BioTheryX’s Prodegy platform serves as the partnership’s centerpiece. It aims to identify and develop molecular glue degraders for multiple historically undruggable oncology targets. “Our platform enables flexible degrader approaches, allowing us to tailor the molecular approach to a given target,” said Philippe Drouet, CEO of Biotheryx, over email.
Conventional small molecule inhibitors often insufficiently drug many targets considered druggable. Consequently, Drouet said, “the drugs are ultimately not as effective for patients as they could be.” This ineffectiveness could result from a variety of factors, such as resistance mechanisms limiting the effectiveness of conventional inhibitor approaches.
BioTheryX’s focus on a broad set of targets
Philippe Drouet
BioTheryX believes its Prodegy platform enables targeted protein degradation. Drouet said this unlocks “these broad set of targets in a more effective way.” This will ultimately benefit cancer patients with remaining unmet needs.
“Our collaboration with Incyte focuses on targets that are well established and characterized but historically considered undruggable,” Drouet said. “We are excited to deploy Prodegy to address these targets for the very first time.”
BioTheryX’s platform uses various proprietary computational and experimental tools and approaches. These include machine learning that complements in vitro techniques. “As a result, we believe our Prodegy platform enables superior efficiency in degrader discovery and design,” Drouet said. “We will deploy the full set of capabilities of our platform to design degraders as part of the Incyte collaboration for novel, historically undruggable targets.”
Potential expansion plans
The initial focus with Incyte is on molecular glues. However, there is an option to include bifunctional degrader approaches where relevant for a given target.
Under the agreement terms, BioTheryX will receive roughly $13 million from Incyte for the initial target. The company could also receive up to $347 million upon meeting potential future regulatory and commercial milestones. Additionally, tiered single-digit royalties on global net product sales apply to the initial target.
Drouet believes the company has the “broadest protected library of molecular glues in the industry, with more than 25 issued U.S. patents supporting our library of over 7,000 glues based on more than 75 chemical scaffolds.” In contrast, immunomodulatory drugs (IMiDs), a class of targeted protein degraders, rely on a single chemical scaffold known as the thalidomide scaffold.
Drouet added that “flexible degrader approaches enable the design of molecular glues, bifunctional and hybrid degraders, allowing us to tailor our molecular approach to a given target.” A proprietary computational and experimental toolkit yields the greatest efficiency in degrader discovery, he added. This approach enables the identification of lead degraders within six months in many cases.
The collaboration between BioTheryX and Incyte aims to accelerate the development of new treatments for cancer patients with unmet needs. Drouet said, “The vast majority of the human proteome — approximately 85% — has been historically considered undruggable using traditional small molecules.” This partnership seeks to overcome these limitations to commercialize novel cancer treatments.
Filed Under: Biologics, Cell & gene therapy, Drug Discovery, Drug Discovery and Development, Oncology
