G-Protein Coupled Receptors
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
It has always been popular to start companies around families and subfamilies of targets, banking on the similarity among the receptors to speed drug discovery. But the idea largely hasn't panned out, in part because of the new target risk--sometimes they're not pharmaceutically relevant and sometimes they resist the available chemistries. That's why G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been so important: they're clearly relevant (many, perhaps most, blockbusters come from this class of receptor) and their unique structure makes them both relatively easy to hit with ligands and likely to do something when hit. But the same structural advantages turn into scientific disadvantages for researchers: they resist screening and other techniques of modern drug discovery. We explore some of the newest approaches to mining this rich vein of opportunity.
You may also be interested in...
Forest Takes Option On Trevena’s Heart Failure Drug, And Some Equity
Already strong in both CNS and cardiovascular drugs, Forest obtained an option to license the Pennsylvania start-up’s lead program in acute heart failure. In the process, Forest took a stake in Trevena as the young company shifts its focus toward pain drugs based on Nobel Prize-winning research.
With $35 Million B Round, Trevena to Push GPCR-Targeted Program into Phase II for Acute Heart Failure
Four investors returned to back the Duke University spinout, which is developing biased ligand small molecules.
With $35 Million B Round, Trevena to Push GPCR-Targeted Program into Phase II for Acute Heart Failure
Four investors returned to back the Duke University spinout, which is developing biased ligand small molecules.