Confo Therapeutics and DyNAbind Announce Drug Discovery Collaboration to Identify Novel GPCR-Modulating Compounds

Confo Therapeutics, an emerging drug discovery company, and DyNAbind GmbH today announce a drug discovery collaboration on an undisclosed G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR).

The collaboration will combine ConfoBody™-enabled GPCRs with DyNAbind’s Dynamic DNA-encoded Library for the discovery of small molecule GPCR-modulating compounds. Under the terms of the agreement, Confo Therapeutics will gain exclusive, worldwide rights to any drug candidates arising from the collaboration and will be responsible for their development, manufacturing and commercialization.  

Commenting on the deal, Dr Christel Menet, Confo Therapeutics’ CSO, said: "This collaboration will leverage the combination of two cutting-edge technologies to expand our universe of hits on a GPCR previously thought to be intractable. We look forward to working with the DyNAbind team on this exciting project." 

Dr Michael Thompson, co-founder and CEO of DyNAbind added: "GPCRs are high-potential targets for drug discovery, but have been traditionally difficult to work with. Confo Therapeutics’ technology has proven itself to be a powerful tool for the stabilization of GPCRs in a particular conformation. Partnered with the increased signal-to-noise ratios seen with our Dynamic Library technology, we are in a strong position to identify drug candidates against this specific target. "

About Confo Therapeutics
Confo Therapeutics is building a portfolio of first-in-class programs based on its proprietary Confo® technology which makes use of antibody fragments or "ConfoBodies™" to stabilize G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) in a particular conformation of interest as a superior starting point for drug discovery. GPCRs are attractive drug targets in the treatment of many different conditions, playing an essential part in numerous life processes and influencing diseases.

In addition to developing its own pipeline, Confo Therapeutics is entering into revenue-generating drug discovery partnerships with select pharma companies, on GPCR targets which do not compete with its internal projects. The Company has ongoing collaborations with Lundbeck and Roche.

Confo Therapeutics was spun out of Vrije Universiteit Brussel and VIB in 2015 and has since raised over €36.7 million from an international investor syndicate (BioGeneration Ventures, Capricorn Venture Partners, Fund+, MINTS, Perceptive Advisors, PMV, QBIC, V-Bio Ventures, VIB and Wellington Partners).

About DyNAbind
DyNAbind GmbH is a privately held company based in Dresden, Germany, offering a next-generation platform of DNA-Encoded Library (DEL) technologies for drug discovery and optimization. DyNAbind’s founders have years of experience in developing and working with DEL technologies, which has driven the development of the novel Dynamic Library platform, a new DEL approach offering superior library quality and data reliability.

DyNAbind is active in multiple areas in the drug discovery field, running internal drug discovery projects on novel targets, as well as entering discovery partnerships with groups from the pharma, biotech and academic sectors. DyNAbind also makes a portion of its libraries available as a research-use product, available through MilliporeSigma.

DyNAbind was developed from 2015 under EXIST-Forschungstransfer funding from the German federal government. After successful technology scale-up, the company was founded in 2017. Since then it has attracted investments from the Kastler GmbH, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Technologie Gründerfonds Sachsen and the Technische Universität Dresden AG.

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