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October 28, 2013, 10:18 am -- /EPR NETWORK/ -- HD Biosciences Co., Ltd (HDB) and Anchor Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that they have formed a strategic collaboration to co-develop and co-market Anchor’s proprietary pepducin technology and provide novel drug development solutions to global pharmaceutical companies with drug discovery efforts focused on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR).
Pepducins are proprietary lipidated peptide modulators for GPCR signaling. They may stabilize receptor conformation, promote or inhibit dimerization, and modulate interaction of GPCR with signalosome. As a strong research tool, pepducin technology enables high throughput screening (HTS) campaigns for the identification of special class of compounds and allosteric ligands, facilitates biophysical studies via stabilization of GPCRs in different activation states and functionally de-orphanizes GPCRs to provide tools for interrogation of pharmacology in vitro and in vivo.
As a key component of HDB’s plate-based pharmacology service capabilities, GPCR assays and screenings is one of the most active research and development areas that attracts global clients and partners in drug discoveries. With over 200 recombinant GPCR cell lines in house, some of which are orphan receptors, combining a variety assay formats with pepducin technology allows HDB to enhance its capabilities for supporting hit identification, lead discovery and receptor selectivity profiling. The collaboration is also designed to provide broader exposure and accessibility of pepducin technology across pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries through HDB’s global client base. HDB’s clients will gain unprecedented access to not only the pepducin screening platform but also HDB-Anchor’s joint expertise in GPCR research.
“Anchor’s pepducin technology has provided a novel approach to search very special GPCR related compounds that have potential to alter the receptor functions. We believe this technology will be very valuable in GPCR related drug discovery.” commented Dr. Xuehai Tan, President and Chief Executive Officer of HDB. “As one of the global leaders in biology focused contract research services, HDB emphasizes on innovative and scientific driven technologies in order to deliver extra value to our clients. The partnership between HDB and Anchor is a perfect example to demonstrate our commitment to grow the expertise and strengthen our leadership in GPCR R&D.” Dr. Tan continues his comments.
“Anchor Therapeutics is extremely pleased to partner its pepducin technology with HD Biosciences, one of the leading companies providing state of the art high throughput screening services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients,” said Thomas J. McMurry, PhD, Anchor’s Interim President. Dr. McMurry continued, “Through this collaboration, Anchor and HDB will expand the validation of pepducin high throughput screening probes in order to provide HDB’s clients with access to innovative screens designed to facilitate access to novel small molecule pharmacophores.”
About Pepducin Technology
Pepducins are novel, allosteric modulators for G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) targets, especially those intractable to current approaches. They are composed of a short peptide derived from a GPCR intracellular loop linked to a lipid moiety. This structure allows pepducins to anchor in the cell membrane and target the GPCR protein via a unique intracellular allosteric mechanism. The pepducin technology platform represents an entirely new paradigm for modulating GPCR signal transduction, potentially providing a novel approach to studying the in vitro and in vivo biology of GPCRs and screening for small molecule modulators of these targets. This technology may transform the scope of GPCR therapeutics to treat a much wider range of serious illnesses, including inflammatory and metabolic diseases. Anchor Therapeutics has broad exclusivity to pepducin technology intellectual property.
About HD Biosciences
HD Biosciences Co. Ltd. is a Shanghai-based, biology-focused preclinical drug discovery contract research organization (CRO). The company offers comprehensive service platforms around target validation, plate-based pharmacology, hit identification and lead discovery, therapeutic antibody discovery, in vivo pharmacology and other research and development services. The company currently collaborates with eight of the world’s ten largest pharmaceutical companies; many of them are strategic partners, plus other pharmaceutical/biotechnology clients. The great expertise, high quality in deliveries, and consistence in meeting and exceeding the expectations have earned the company a great reputation in the industry and helped the company to build its widely recognized leadership in contract research services.
About Anchor Therapeutics
Anchor Therapeutics, Inc., based in Cambridge, MA, is a venture backed company that is the leader in the development of pepducin technology. The Company is engaged in the licensing of pepducin technology as research tools for drug development and has established a portfolio of first-in-class pepducin drug candidates, novel molecules that can selectively target G protein coupled receptors (GPCR) to allosterically modulate GPCR signaling.
Contact Details:
For HD Biosciences
Xiaojie(Jessie)Yang
Director, Business Development
HD Biosciences (China) Co.,Ltd.
Email: yangxiaojie@hdbiosciences.com
Website: http://www.hdbiosciences.com
For Anchor Therapeutics
Thomas J. McMurry, Ph.D.
Interim President and Senior Vice President, R&D
Anchor Therapeutics, Inc.
Email: tmcmurry@AnchorTx.com
Website: http://www.anchortx.com
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