SAN DIEGO, Oct. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Forge
Therapeutics, Inc. (Forge) announced today that the companies have
expanded their existing strategic alliance and launched the
BLACKSMITH platform to discover a broader range of therapeutics
targeting metalloenzymes.
"Over the last two years, we have experienced the power of
Forge's discovery capabilities with the discovery of the first
novel antibiotic class targeting LpxC and we are pleased to have
expanded our strategic alliance with the launch of the BLACKSMITH
platform," said Mario Polywka, Chief Operating Officer of
Evotec. "Evotec is focused on investing in companies and
technologies that can truly advance the field of drug development –
our continued relationship with Forge opens many opportunities to
rapidly develop new therapies in almost any therapeutic indication
where metalloenzymes are critical to disease advancement."
"All six major enzyme classes contain a significant amount of
metalloenzymes and, in fact, over 30 percent of all known enzymes
across all species are metalloenzymes," Prof. Seth Cohen, UCSD and co-founder of Forge.
"Despite the rich target space for drug development there are,
however, only a few examples of clinically approved metalloenzyme
inhibitors as medicines which we believe is due to a shortcoming in
the chemical space employed to bind the active site metal ion."
David Puerta, COO of Forge,
added, "Distinct from traditional approaches for 'hit' discovery
using high throughput screens, the Forge approach starts with
metal-ligand interactions to identify selective metal-binding
fragment pharmacophores, or MBPs, from a proprietary library of
greater than 500 MBPs. Intelligently selected fragments result in
greater and more effective chemical diversity to rapidly identify
key interactions between a fragment and the metalloenzyme active
site. Using bioinorganic and medicinal chemistry principles, Forge
transforms these MBP fragments into therapeutic leads using a novel
fragment growth strategy incorporating our computational chemistry
and structural biology."
Zachary A. Zimmerman, Ph.D., CEO
of Forge, commented, "The time for collaborative work in our
industry is now and we are pleased to expand our relationship with
Evotec to discover additional, novel metalloenzyme inhibitors
against a wide range of diseases with our proprietary technology.
Through this expanded relationship, we gain valuable resources that
will accelerate our discovery engine to advance multiple
therapeutic candidates toward the clinic."
BLACKSMITH Platform & Strategy
Forge's platform called BLACKSMITH comprises a deep knowledge of
metalloenzymes, bioinorganic and medicinal chemistry know-how, and
a focused library of proprietary metal-binding fragment
pharmacophores (MBPs) that provide selective & diverse starting
points for novel inhibitors. Our strategy is to use the
BLACKSMITH platform to discover new chemistry for the treatment of
a broad range of diseases in areas of unmet needs with initial
efforts in the area of infectious disease. To date, Forge has
performed over 50 metalloenzyme screens with library hit rates of
>15%, providing multiple starting points to build potent
selective inhibitors of metalloenzymes across a variety of
therapeutic areas.
About Forge Therapeutics
At Forge Therapeutics, we are developing medicines targeting
metal-dependent enzymes found in nature. Over 30% of known
enzymes are metalloenzymes covering all major enzymes
classes: oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases,
isomerases, and ligases. Metal ions, including magnesium,
zinc, iron, manganese, calcium, cobalt, and copper are the
essential ingredient in these metalloenzymes. At Forge, we
are the blacksmiths of modern medicine, providing the tools to
address any metalloenzyme challenge.
Forge's lead effort is focused on LpxC, a zinc metalloenzyme
found only in Gram-negative bacteria and which is essential for
bacteria to grow. Forge has a strategic alliance with leading
drug discovery alliance and development partnership company Evotec
AG and has been awarded multiple government awards including
CARB-X. In addition, Forge has amassed a rich intellectual
property estate on metalloprotein inhibitors to protect its
BLACKSMITH platform and pipeline including technology licensed from
UCSD. For further information, please visit the company's
website www.ForgeTherapeutics.com and follow us on Twitter
@ForgeThera.
Forge Company Contact:
Info@ForgeTherapeutics.com
Forge Media Contact:
Amy
Conrad
Juniper Point
amy@juniper-point.com
858-366-3243
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SOURCE Forge Therapeutics, Inc.