Excellerate Bioscience is excited to announce the formation of a collaborative partnership with AdAlta Limited, a leading Australian biotechnology company that utilises its proprietary technology platform to generate i-bodies as novel protein therapeutics to treat disease. Our internationally recognised expertise in G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) molecular pharmacology will be used to profile AdAlta i-body leads to select superior candidates for a target of commercial interest.
MELBOURNE Australia, 28 February 2019: AdAlta Limited (ASX:1AD), the biotechnology company advancing its lead i-body candidate toward clinical development, today announced that it has formed a collaborative partnership with UK-based research organisation, Excellerate Bioscience, to advance the development of its i-body pipeline.
Through the partnership, the two companies will identify i-bodies with unique efficacy, safety and duration and determine which ones are best-in-class for binding to drug targets, specifically G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).
GPCRs are involved in a wide array of diseases including diabetes and obesity but many remain difficult to target by small molecule and traditional antibody therapeutics. Of the top 200 selling pharmaceuticals, 25% target a GPCR, with this approach totaling drug sales worth $82 billion in 2016. Despite a significant market size, over 80% of GPCR targets are yet to be effectively exploited, due to the inability to identify specific binders that treat patients without unwanted side effects.
AdAlta will screen its novel i-body library on a target of commercial interest. Excellerate Biosciences will evaluate the leads identified by AdAlta, profile the distinct pharmacology and enable the selection of superior drug candidates. AdAlta will then commercialise the outcomes of the project.
“It is now widely recognised that optimising the binding properties of new compounds that target GPCRs can result in drugs with significantly improved efficacy, safety and duration of action. With Excellerate’s expertise, we hope to identify novel i-bodies that are first in class and best-in-class for further development, and to showcase the i-body platform,” said AdAlta’s Chief Executive Officer Sam Cobb.
Excellerate Bioscience CSO, Professor Steven Charlton added, “We are very excited by the potential of i-body technology to provide much-needed novel mechanisms to modulate GPCR function and are delighted to be working with AdAlta on this exciting new therapeutic platform.”
AdAlta’s Scientific Advisory Board member, Dr John Westwick commented, “Professor Steven Charlton is one of the world’s foremost experts in GPCR pharmacology. We are honoured to have a partnership with such a well-credentialed collaborator.”