The collaboration will combine Plexium’s novel technology platform with Amgen’s early discovery expertise to discover new therapeutic agents
Amgen headquarters in Thousand Oaks, California, US. (Credit: Coolcaesar/Wikipedia.)
Amgen and Plexium have signed an exclusive research collaboration and license agreement to identify novel protein degradation therapeutics for historically challenging drug targets.
The collaboration will support the discovery and development of novel molecular glue therapeutics for the treatment of cancers and other serious diseases.
It will combine Plexium’s novel technology platform with Amgen’s early discovery expertise in developing multi-specific molecules.
Amgen said that molecular glues work through a concept of induced proximity, exploiting normal cell biology to bring two proteins together to achieve protein degradation.
The collaboration will initially focus on two programmes with Amgen holding options to add additional programmes.
Plexium is eligible to receive more than $500m in milestone payments, subject to achieving target access, pre-clinical, clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones, in addition to tiered single-digit royalties.
Amgen will obtain a license to any programme that reaches a predefined preclinical stage of development and will be responsible for global development and marketing.
Amgen global research senior vice president Ray Deshaies said: “We are on the cusp of a new era of drug discovery where medicines could function very differently than conventional ones do today.
“Collaborating with Plexium and leveraging their innovative technology to identify molecular glue degraders can help tackle some of the most challenging protein targets to address serious disease.”
The collaboration will use Plexium’s broad targeted protein degradation platform, backed by a high-throughput cell-based screening technology.
Plexium is a next-generation targeted protein degradation company, which aims to discover a wide range of monovalent target protein degraders.
Its drug discovery platform is designed to identify novel small molecules for selective degradation of drug target proteins through E3 ligase mediated proteasomal degradation.
The company is advancing a pipeline of novel targeted protein degraders for the treatment of cancer, neurodegeneration, and other diseases.
Plexium president and CEO Percival Barretto-Ko said: “Amgen is a globally recognised pharmaceutical company that shares our commitment to pushing the boundaries of modern drug discovery and we’re thrilled to announce our collaboration today.
“This partnership leverages and expands our drug discovery capabilities and will further demonstrate the power of our platform to unlock the potential of protein degradation.
“We look forward to working with Amgen to accelerate the discovery of the next generation of targeted protein degraders to improve patients’ lives around the globe.”