Plexium Announces Strategic Collaboration with AbbVie to Develop Targeted Protein Degradation Therapies for Neurological Disorders

Today, Plexium announced that it has reached a research and development agreement with AbbVie to jointly develop innovative targeted protein degradation therapies for neurological diseases. This collaboration will combine AbbVie's extensive capabilities in neuroscience with Plexium’s comprehensive targeted protein degradation platform to develop innovative treatments for historically challenging targets. Previously, the company had entered into a $500 million R&D collaboration with Amgen and completed a $102 million financing round.

Although scientists have found that many specific proteins are closely related to human diseases, it is difficult to find small molecules or antibody drugs that can bind to many of these proteins. These proteins are also called "undruggable" targets.

Targeted protein degraders work by bringing target proteins and E3 ubiquitin ligases together, tagging the target proteins with "ubiquitin labels" so they can be recognized and degraded by the proteasomes within cells. To date, most targeted protein degraders are bivalent molecules, with one end binding to the target protein and the other end binding to components of the degradation mechanism (such as E3 ligase).

Plexium Focuses on the Development of Monovalent Degraders. Plexium's TPD platform uses phenotypic screening of DNA-encoded compound libraries to identify and evaluate cell-active degrader candidates in a disease-relevant cellular context. As a unique drug discovery engine, it aims to identify novel small molecules that bind to E3 ligases. These small molecules can bind individually to the target protein or E3 ligase, inducing conformational changes that ultimately lead to the degradation of the target protein. Additionally, the platform is well-suited for studying E3 ligases and the impact of modulating E3 ligase activity on cellular phenotypes, and can be used to identify novel small molecules that bind to E3 ligases, optimizing them for specific activity profiles.

▲Plexium’s TPD Platform Screening Process (Image Source: Plexium’s Official Website)

According to the cooperation agreement, Plexium will conduct preclinical research on the collaborative targets, and then AbbVie will have the priority to select research and development projects for further development. Plexium will receive an upfront payment and is eligible for additional milestone payments. AbbVie will be responsible for the global development and commercialization of the collaborative projects.

"Percival Barretto-Ko, President and CEO of Plexium, stated, 'Neuroscience is one of the most challenging therapeutic areas for drug development due to the complexity of disease pathology and the limited number of successful treatment models. By combining our integrated platform with AbbVie's expertise in this field, we have the opportunity to develop innovative degraders targeting multiple high-value targets, ultimately improving patients' lives.'"

References:

[1] Abbvie and Plexium Enter into Multi-target Strategic Collaboration to Develop and Commercialize Targeted Protein Degradation Therapies for Neurological Conditions. Retrieved April 28, 2022, from https://www.plexium.com/abbvie-and-plexium-enter-into-multi-target-strategic-collaboration-to-develop-and-commercialize-targeted-protein-degradation-therapies-for-neurological-conditions/

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