Old, but interesting.
Monday July 9, 7:59 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Consensus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Consensus and Vertex Collaborate to Evaluate Selected Protease Targets
MEDFORD, and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Privately-held Consensus Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX - news) announced today they have entered into a collaboration whereby Consensus will provide Vertex with substrates and chemical analysis of the catalytic site requirements for 10 targets in the protease gene family. The agreement will also entail the cloning, production and kinetic assessment of novel protease targets.
The protease targets will be selected by both companies for their commercial relevance. Proteases are human enzymes that cleave other proteins. Proteases are active in many different biological pathways, and inhibition of protease activity by a small molecule drug may be a useful strategy in the treatment of a variety of diseases. Vertex has rights to develop and commercialize products resulting from this collaboration in exchange for which Consensus will receive certain research support and milestone payments. Financial terms were not disclosed.
``We believe that the information that we access through this collaboration will enhance our understanding of a number of targets in the protease gene family, and help to drive the discovery and development of potent new protease inhibitors,'' said John Thomson, Ph.D., Vice President of Research at Vertex.
``This collaboration represents an exciting application of our proprietary technology for the rapid identification of optimal substrates and for the development of comprehensive information about the structural requirements for interaction of proteins with the catalytic sites of novel enzymes,'' said John J. Nestor, Jr., Ph.D., President of Consensus.
With the successful sequencing of the human genome, the development of tools to assist in understanding gene function has become the next critical step of research and development efforts to identify and validate genes for drug discovery.
Consensus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Medford, Massachusetts, is a drug discovery company that makes use of its suite of functional proteomic technologies to provide rapid characterization of protein binding site requirements (enzyme and receptor) and to assist in pathway placement through bioinformatics. This information allows the rapid initiation of selective HTS assays and focusing of drug discovery programs. Additional technology has been developed to provide purified, functional G Protein-Coupled Receptors for a range of applications from crystallization studies to the identification of native ligands (de-orphaning) for new receptors for drug discovery. |
