WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--X-Chem, Inc., a privately held biotechnology company focused on applying its industry-leading DNA-encoded (DEX™) drug discovery engine to the generation of novel small molecule therapeutics, today announced the expansion of its collaboration with Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX).
Under the terms of the expanded agreement, X-Chem will apply its growing collection of next-generation DEX libraries toward the discovery of novel lead compounds against multiple targets across Vertex’s drug development portfolio. Vertex will be responsible for further development and commercialization of licensed programs. X-Chem will receive an upfront payment, and stands to receive additional payments linked to the achievement of R&D and regulatory milestones. X-Chem is also eligible for royalties on revenues from medicines originating from the collaboration. The expanded partnership now comprises 14 targets, increasing the scope of the original agreement two-fold.
“Vertex research strategy focuses on addressing the underlying cause of disease through therapeutic innovation,” said Mark Bunnage, Senior Vice President and Boston Research Site Head at Vertex. “As we tackle new targets, we have been very impressed with X-Chem’s technology platform and what it has delivered in the first 18 months of our partnership. Based on that success we are eager to extend our work with X-Chem to additional targets for serious diseases.”
The collaboration between X-Chem and Vertex has enabled the discovery and licensing to Vertex of novel lead compounds from X-Chem’s industry-leading DNA-encoded DEX libraries. Richard Wagner, CEO of X-Chem said, “We’re delighted to broaden our alliance with Vertex and continue to collaborate with a company that brings a very strong biological understanding of difficult to drug targets. X-Chem will bring expanded capabilities to this relationship. Since 2015, X-Chem has continually invested in and focused on developing innovative novel DEX library chemistries to expand the breadth and scope of drug-like chemical space covered by our proprietary libraries. X-Chem also continues to advance data analytics methodologies to more quickly and efficiently identify hits that can advance rapidly into clinical trials with minimal optimization.”
About X-Chem’s DNA-Encoded (DEX™) Libraries and Platform
X-Chem’s
DEX drug discovery engine is based on a collection of DNA-encoded
libraries comprising over 120 billion unique drug-like small molecules
derived from iterative combinatorial chemistry processes, where the
identity of each compound is recorded in a linked DNA barcode. The
pooled libraries are used in low volume, affinity-based screening
against biological targets, whereby ligands are ‘fished out’ and
identified via DNA sequencing. Innovations in library design, screening
methodologies, and bioinformatics underlie the exceptional performance
of the DEX platform. The use of previously inaccessible chemical
reactions and atom-efficient synthesis schemes generate maximal
diversity and rule-of-five compliance. Parallel screens, either varying
target concentration or including off-targets, mutants or known ligand
competitors, allow for insight into the potency, mechanism of action,
and specificity of putative hits. Proprietary statistical and
bioinformatics tools identify multiple clusters of related molecules
with emergent structure-activity relationships. These innovations
underpin X-Chem’s success against difficult and intractable targets that
have failed in conventional screening, and have generated over 100 lead
series licensed by X-Chem’s partners including fragments, low molecular
weight heterocycles, macrocycles, and irreversible covalent
electrophiles.
About X-Chem
X-Chem, Inc. is a privately-owned biotechnology
company based in Waltham, Massachusetts. The company’s mission is to
apply its powerful product engine to the discovery of small molecule
leads against high-value therapeutic targets. X-Chem has established
partnerships with AbbVie, Alexion, Almirall, Bristol-Myers Squibb,
AstraZeneca, Bayer, Department of Defense/Harvard, Gilead, Janssen, MD
Anderson Cancer Center, Ono, Otsuka, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, Taiho
Pharma, Vertex, and several other leading pharmaceutical companies,
biotechnology organizations, and academic centers. For further
information on X-Chem, please visit: http://www.x-chemrx.com/.
