SAN DIEGO--Structural Bioinformatics (SBI) here and BioChem Therapeutics, a wholly owned subsidiary of Biochem Pharma, Laval, Quebec, have agreed to collaborate on drug discovery and design using SBI's proprietary computational technologies. SBI will apply its genomics-driven, protein-structure-based drug design algorithms to facilitate the design and identification of small molecules for two targets selected by BioChem. BioChem will contribute drug development expertise, fund the research, and make milestone and royalty payments.
"We are very excited about the drug development synergy that this collaboration will create," said Edward Maggio, SBI's president and CEO. "BioChem Therapeutics' drug optimization expertise is a perfect extension of Structural Bioinformatics' computer-assisted drug design capabilities."
SBI has developed a structure-based lead discovery pathway to generate small-molecule lead compounds. The pathway relies on the company's large protein structural information database that is tightly integrated with a proprietary set of computational tools. The resulting operating system permits the identification and structural analysis of relevant sites on protein drug targets, and the direct use of this information in a variety of structure-based drug design and virtual screening applications, according to the company.
SBI, which is privately held, recently closed a new $5 million funding round.