In contrast to traditional drug discovery approaches, which often begin with high throughput screening based on biochemical properties, we directly screen our molecules with these functional assays. We believe our approach speeds up the identification of relevant molecules and avoids the elimination of attractive molecules that could fail to advance through traditional screening assays.
We apply this approach to develop drug candidates against targets in T cell modulation related to inflammatory diseases with large unmet need. Our goal is to produce highly differentiated drug candidates, to address these targets.
Modulating inappropriate T cell activity is essential for addressing the underlying cause of many allergic and autoimmune diseases. However, typical drug screening approaches have a number of limitations:
Our approach assesses T cell modulation as the first rather than the last step in the discovery process, rapidly identifying immune-active molecules.
T cells are a type of white blood cell responsible for regulating the immune response to pathogens and allergens. Inappropriate T cell activity can lead to the development autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. A subclass of T cells, known as T helper cells, helps guide the immune response, with type 1 helper T cells (Th1) driving responses to pathogens inside of cells and type 2 helper T cells (Th2) guiding response to pathogens outside of cells and driving allergic reactions. Modulation of both the Th1 and Th2 signaling pathways has been validated by the approval of multiple therapies with broad therapeutic potential and sizeable commercial markets. We believe that there are multiple opportunities to develop next-generation therapeutics directed against clinically validated as well as novel targets that regulate Th1 and Th2 immune responses.