NEW YORK — German proteomics company Neosphere Biotechnologies said Tuesday that it is collaborating with Kymera Therapeutics on drug discovery research.
Under the agreement, the companies will use Neosphere's mass spectrometry-based proteome-wide screening technology to identify potential drug targets that can be addressed using Kymera's targeted protein degradation technology.
The firms will follow up target candidates with mechanistic validation via ubiquitination analysis.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
The collaboration is focused on a class of targeted protein degradation drugs called "molecular glue degraders," which work by redirecting E3 ubiquitin ligases, which are involved in the degradation and elimination of nonnative proteins, to protein targets involved in disease. These ligases ubiquitinate the target proteins, tagging them for degradation by proteasomes.
"This partnership validates the unique potential of Neosphere Biotechnologies' platform to systematically explore the target space for molecular glues," Henrik Daub, CSO and founder of Neosphere, said in a statement. "Neosphere Biotechnologies and Kymera share a strong commitment to innovation and to advance degrader discovery to the next level. By combining Kymera's exceptional drug discovery capabilities with our ability to swiftly identify and proteomically validate novel targets, even for entire compound libraries, we aim to create valuable opportunities to target previously undruggable disease-causing proteins."