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Curve Therapeutics announces collaboration with MSD for next generation drug discovery platform

Curve Therapeutics

Curve’s mammalian cell drug discovery platform to enable optimization of novel small molecule drug candidates against MSD targets

16 Feb 2022
Blake Forman
Content Creator

Industry news

Curve Therapeutics, a private biotechnology company pioneering a potentially game-changing, functional drug discovery platform, has announced a global research collaboration with MSD, the trade name of Merck & Co., to discover and validate modulators of up to five therapeutic targets using its Microcycle® technology, initially for oncology and neurology indications.

Under the terms of the agreement Curve will receive an upfront payment, and will be eligible to receive research, development and commercial milestones totaling up to US$ 1.7B should all five therapeutic programs succeed. Curve will also receive a royalty on net sales of any approved products resulting from the alliance.

Under the agreement, Curve will perform high throughput mammalian cell-based functional screening, hit characterization, data mining and analysis, and Microcycle® optimization. MSD will be responsible for lead optimization, clinical development, manufacturing, and commercialization of compounds identified through the collaboration.

Simon Kerry, Ph.D., MBA, Chief Executive Officer of Curve, said: “This collaboration is a major milestone for Curve and an important endorsement of our ground-breaking drug discovery platform. Working with MSD on selected therapeutic targets will complement Curve’s in-house drug discovery and development programs.”

Curve’s novel, proprietary platform enables the direct discovery of biologically active molecules against targets that have been difficult to address using conventional drug discovery methods. The platform allows rapid enrichment of highly diverse Microcycle® libraries in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells to identify library members that have a desired biological activity against a therapeutic target. Importantly, the compact size of Microcycles™ enables their transformation to non-peptidic small molecules for lead optimization and development: an unparalleled advantage compared to other cyclic peptides.

Prof. Ali Tavassoli, Chief Scientific Officer of Curve, said: “Screening a genetically encoded Microcycle® library against proteins in their native intracellular state is unique in drug discovery and Curve’s platform creates an unprecedented opportunity to discover functional hits that are readily converted to small-molecule leads against the most challenging targets in drug discovery.”

Rob Garbaccio PhD., Vice President of Discovery Chemistry MSD Research Laboratories said: “At MSD we are committed to bringing forward medicines for many of the world’s most challenging diseases. We look forward to collaborating with the scientists at Curve to evaluate new ways to treat complex diseases.”

Curve originated from world-leading Microcycle® research conducted by Professor Tavassoli’s group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Southampton, UK. The company was established in 2019 by founding investor Advent Life Sciences and subsequently joined by co-lead Epidarex Capital.

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High-Throughput ScreeningHigh-throughput screening (HTS) is an automated drug discovery technique for identification of active compounds against a compound library. Use HTS readers and integrated assay preparation / analysis workstations to screen your compounds. Identify active compounds against various HTS libraries, including membranes, proteins and peptides and HTS cell lines. Find the best high-throughput screening products in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.Compound LibrariesCompound libraries, or chemical libraries, are used in drug discovery for the identification of potential therapeutics compounds. Used in conjunction with high-throughput screening, the libraries of stored compounds are often generated for specific purposes as a drug target or disease model. Cheminformatics are commonly used when designing a compound library and software can be used to analyze the screening process.  High-Content ScreeningHigh-content screening (HCS), also known as high-content analysis (HCA), is a high-throughput technique used in drug discovery to identify substances that alter the phenotype of cells. HCS uses fluorescent microscopic imaging and automated image analysis to investigate cellular events such as apoptosis, cell viability, GPCR activation, oxide production, neurite outgrowth, and cell signaling. Find the best fluorescent labeling reagents, cellular assays, and high-content imaging systems in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.Next Generation SequencingNext-generation sequencing (NGS), also known as whole-genome sequencing, high-throughput sequencing and massive parallel sequencing, produces and analyses thousands to millions of nucleotide sequences at once. Sequencing systems operate via varying technologies depending on the manufacturer, including sequencing by synthesis, ligation, pyrosequencing, ion semiconductor and single-molecule real-time sequencing. For NGS, library preparation is paramount to successful sequencing. In this section, explore a range of library preparation kits, from targeted, amplicon-based or hybridization-based kits including epigenomic, transcriptomic and genomic workflows to fragmentation kits. Find the best next-generation sequencing products in our peer-reviewed product directory: compare products, check customer reviews and receive pricing direct from manufacturers.Library GenerationLibrary generation refers to the construction of NGS libraries from RNA and DNA sources.High ThroughputHigh throughput experiments allow the simultaneous processing of several samples. This parallelization reduces the cost per experiment and increases reproducibility and output volume of data.PeptidesPeptides are short chains of amino acids that play key roles in biological processes, including signaling, immune responses, and enzyme regulation. Peptide research is critical in drug discovery, diagnostics, and vaccine development. Browse our peer-reviewed product directory to find the best peptides and peptide-related products, compare options, check reviews, and get pricing directly from manufacturers.BiotherapeuticsBiotherapeutics are proteins and other compounds (such as nucleic acids) produced by living organisms that have uses as therapeutics or in <i>in vivo</i> diagnostics. The most well-known example of a biotherapeutic product, and the first to be approved for therapeutic use, was recombinant human insulin.Drug DiscoveryDrug discovery is the process of identifying potential new medications, involving stages such as target identification, compound screening, and preclinical development. It relies on cutting-edge technologies like high-throughput screening, artificial intelligence, and molecular modeling to accelerate the identification of drug candidates. Drug discovery plays a pivotal role in developing new therapies for diseases ranging from cancer to rare genetic disorders. Browse our peer-reviewed product directory to find the latest drug discovery technologies, compare options, check customer feedback, and get pricing directly from manufacturers.Lead OptimizationLead optimization is a phase in the drug discovery process. A lead is a compound that has demonstrated desired biological effects on a target. Optimization involves making chemical modifications to the structure in order to generate analogues of the original compound, which have higher potency and safety profiles.

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