BOSTON, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Dewpoint
Therapeutics, the biomolecular condensates company, today announced
a new research collaboration with Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) for the
development of potential therapeutics for the treatment of myotonic
dystrophy type 1, DM1, a rare genetic disorder and one of two types
of myotonic dystrophy. Under the agreement, Dewpoint will receive
an upfront payment and will be eligible to receive research,
development, and sales milestones payments, totaling up to
$239 million should all milestones be
achieved. Dewpoint will also be eligible to receive royalties on
any approved products.
DM1 is an inherited genetic disorder linked with the DMPK gene.
People diagnosed with DM1 experience muscle loss and weakness,
difficulty breathing, cataracts, heart conditions, intellectual
disability, and early death. According to NORD, DM1 affects
approximately one in 8,000-20,000 people in the general population,
with significant geographic and ethnic variation.
"DM1 is a devastating disease for which there is no treatment
that addresses its underlying cause, so we are eager to carry out
our collaboration with Pfizer to accelerate the development of new
treatments into this space," said Ameet
Nathwani, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dewpoint. "We are
excited about applying our platform to a wide array of diseases
where biomolecular condensates may play a role in key disease
pathways, as Dewpoint believes they do in DM1."
"The development of treatments for rare diseases, such as DM1,
is a complex and rapidly evolving area of science, underscoring the
importance of emerging research like this," said Uwe Schoenbeck, Senior Vice President and Chief
Scientific Officer, External Science & Innovation at Pfizer.
"Through our combined expertise, we believe this collaboration has
the potential to advance novel therapeutic solutions for patients
in need."
About Biomolecular Condensates
Biomolecular
condensates, formed through a process called phase separation, are
membraneless droplets inside cells that facilitate molecular
interactions and help cells perform vital functions. Condensates
have been shown to play a critical role in key biological processes
and in serious, intractable diseases across areas including
neurodegeneration, cancer, inflammation, infectious disease,
metabolic disease, and rare genetic disorders. The first
condensates were observed more than 100 years ago. It is only in
the last dozen years, though, that scientists—including Dewpoint
founders Tony Hyman of the Max
Planck Institute in Dresden and Rick
Young of the Whitehead Institute—have begun to understand
the dynamic nature and function of condensates. Dewpoint develops
drugs that exploit this biology. Prior to the discovery of
biomolecular condensate function, it was unknown how the right
molecules could find each other at the right time to catalyze
important processes in the crowded molecular environment of the
cell.
About Dewpoint Therapeutics
Dewpoint Therapeutics is
the first company to apply the emerging understanding
of biomolecular condensates to drug discovery. Dewpoint
believes that a vast range of conditions have pathways that are
regulated by condensates or arise from the dysfunction of
condensates — including cancer, neurodegeneration, infectious
disease, and metabolic disease. Dewpoint scientists work in
Boston, Dresden, and Berlin to translate condensate biology into
treatments for the toughest diseases.
Learn more at dewpointx.com, and follow us
on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Scientists or investors interested in biomolecular condensates
can also visit condensates.com for news and updates in
the field.
Contacts:
Danielle
Cantey
202-337-0808
dcantey@gpg.com
Morgan Warners
202-337-0808
mwarners@gpg.com
View original content to download
multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dewpoint-announces-collaboration-with-pfizer-to-develop-potential-therapies-for-a-rare-form-of-muscular-dystrophy-301201553.html
SOURCE Dewpoint Therapeutics