US $430 million joining arvinas to seize the new commanding point of protein drug development

Source: Bio Valley 2015-04-08 with the development of biotechnology, human drug development has long been not limited to chemical drugs Thousands of proteins in human body provide scientists with rich target libraries for developing new drugs However, up to now, the main idea of researchers in the development of protein drugs is to block or stimulate the corresponding protein targets through antibodies and small chemical molecules Researchers have pointed out that less than a quarter of the 20000 protein drug targets currently used can use this strategy Therefore, the development of new protein drug technology has become a hot spot of biomedical giants Recently, MSD announced that it has signed a US $434 million cooperative R & D agreement with arvinas, a well-known pharmaceutical manufacturer, to seize the leading position in this field Arvinas's unique proteolysis targeted chimeric Technology (protac) can selectively degrade some "unpopular" proteins by activating the protein degradation pathway inside the cells, thus transforming each cell into a drug unit This idea is expected to play an important role in the development of protein drugs in the future According to the contract, MSD will pay a total of $434 million to arvinas, including the advance payment, research funds and corresponding milestone funds In return, MSD will obtain protac, a promising new technology However, the parties did not disclose the target of the study Arvinas, founded in 2013, quickly became known in the industry due to its protac technology, which comes from the laboratory of Professor Craig crews of Yale University Manny litchman, CEO of the company, said the cooperation played an important role for arvinas to further clarify its future positioning, and he also believed that the company's protac technology would become an important selling point in the future drug development system of MSD At present, the company is using this technology to develop the corresponding tumor treatment plan, and the company hopes to declare this treatment plan to FDA in the middle of next year （ ispring ）