Eli Lilly reaches over 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to collaborate on the development of innovative anti-cancer therapies for gene expression regulation mechanisms

On December 13, 2021, Eli Lilly and Company's Loxo Oncology and Foghorn Therapeutics announced a strategic research cooperation agreement
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The two companies will use Foghorn's "Gene Traffic Control" technology platform for the chromatin control system to develop new oncology drugs

Just as in order to ensure the safe operation of flights, the air traffic control system needs to give detailed instructions to each aircraft, and human cells need to control the time, location and sequence of gene expression
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All of these are the responsibility of the chromatin regulation system.

In addition, the latest cancer genome map research also revealed that in about one-third of cancers, another key component of the chromatin regulatory system-transcription factors have been genetically mutated or overexpressed
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Many neurological diseases, autoimmune diseases and other serious diseases are also closely related to the dysregulation of the chromatin regulatory system

The gene traffic control platform developed by Foghorn supports high-throughput drug discovery and development through five aspects: identification and inspection of drug targets; mass production and analysis of chromatin control system components; and iterative optimization after drug targets are determined ; Direct the target into the cell’s protein degradation system; the transformation of clinical and biomarker recognition to determine the patient population most likely to benefit
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With this platform, Foghorn is developing a series of drugs that target related genes in the chromatin regulatory system, including some targets for which there is no corresponding drug

▲Foghorn is researching pipeline (picture source: Foghorn company official website)

Foghorn currently has more than 10 research projects to treat cancer and other diseases caused by dysregulation of the chromatin regulatory system
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For example, there are more than 30 different cancers with brahma-related gene-1 (BRG1) mutations, which account for about 5% of all tumors and 10% of non-small cell lung cancer

According to the terms of the agreement, Foghorn will receive an upfront payment of US$300 million and Eli Lilly’s equity investment in Foghorn with a total value of US$80 million
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For BRM selective inhibitors and additional undisclosed target research and development projects, Foghorn will lead drug discovery and early research activities, while Eli Lilly will be responsible for its development and commercialization activities

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