Amgen and Arrakis Therapeutics collaborate to develop small molecules to target RNA degradation

On January 11, 2022, Amgen and Arrakis Therapeutics announced a research collaboration to discover and develop RNA-degrading therapeutics for a range of difficult-to-drug targets across multiple therapeutic areas

Most of the drugs currently developed for protein targets target a few types of proteins (such as receptor proteins)

Arrakis is taking multiple approaches to establish a new paradigm for small molecule drug discovery targeting multiple mechanisms of the RNA life cycle

▲Schematic diagram of Arrakis' RNA-targeting small molecule drug platform (Image source: Arrakis authorized to use)

The Induced Proximity Platform, which Amgen has established, enables the development of multispecific molecules

Under the terms of the agreement, Arrakis will be responsible for research activities to discover small-molecule compounds that bind to RNA against a broad range of targets nominated by Amgen

References

[1] AMGEN AND ARRAKIS THERAPEUTICS ANNOUNCE MULTI-TARGET COLLABORATION TO IDENTIFY NOVEL RNA DEGRADER SMALL MOLECULE THERAPEUTICS.

(Original abridged)