Liverpool ChiroChem Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “LCC”) and Veritas In Silico Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “VIS”) announce that LCC and VIS have entered into a Collaboration Development & Commercialisation Agreement today to jointly generate mRNA-targeted small molecule drug candidates.
LCC and VIS announced their strategic partnership on 9th October 2024 that combines LCC’s chemistry platform PACE™ with VIS’ unique drug discovery platform ibVIS®.
This partnership aims to generate first-in-class and best-in-class assets of small molecule therapeutics against undisclosed mRNA targets.
The partnership began by conducting a Research Collaboration Agreement, in which VIS screened LCC’s >1,000-member novel chiral fragment library against 10 mRNA targets across oncology, rare diseases, CNS and infectious diseases. The screening was extremely successful in identifying novel chemical matter against all 10 targets that met the defined criteria set by both parties to trigger the unblinding of the data and progression to the next stage of the partnership.
The agreement will be governed by a Joint Steering Committee (JSC). The JSC will decide which of the 10 targets or others are to be taken into full-scale development projects in order to transform the fragment hits into potent & selective ligands that elicit the desired therapeutic effect and the requisite ADME & toxicology profiles, resulting in data packages for lead candidate assets that can be partnered and progressed into IND-enabling studies.
Dr Paul Colbon, founder and CEO of LCC comments:
We are delighted with the way the two teams have come together and worked so efficiently to screen the LCC fragment library against the 10 mRNA targets validated by VIS. Hitting the selection criteria and identifying novel chemical matter against all 10 targets is a fantastic start, validates the quality of the platforms, and provides us with exceptional optionality over which projects to progress and develop the lead candidate assets, ready for further commercial partnership and progression into pre-clinical studies.”
Dr Shingo Nakamura, Representative Director, Founder and CEO of VIS comments:
“The partnership between LCC and VIS is not only complementary but also exhaustive. Our mutual intentions to generate brand new small molecule drugs at the fastest pace and to own their IPs even strengthen the partnership. We believe that the partnership can be applicable to more than what we currently plan, and eventually we may expand the drug discovery strategy even further.”
Headquarters: Runcorn, Cheshire, United Kingdom
CEO & Founder: Dr Paul Colbon
Email: contact@liverpoolchirochem.com
Headquarters: Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Representative Director, Founder and CEO: Dr Shingo Nakamura
Listed on: TSE Growth, Stock Ticker Code: 130A
Contact Person: Hiroaki HAGIWARA, Director and General Manager, Administration Division
Email: ir@veritasinsilico.com