Dunad Therapeutics has entered a strategic collaboration and license agreement with Novartis to generate orally bioavailable covalent and protein degrading small molecule drugs.
Dunad will be responsible for programme execution up to lead optimisation, while Novartis will contribute target and ligand knowledge as well as access to assays and models.
The platform uses mono-valent small molecules to induce selective degradation of disease-causing and often undruggable proteins via direct modification of the target. The novel molecular approach is tunable to be selective and is underpinned by a target-class agnostic mechanism of action that is differentiated from other targeted protein degradation technologies.
Professor Patrick Gunning, Dunad’s Co-founder, Acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer, said: “We are confident that with our approach of inducing degradation via direct modulation of target proteins with mono-valent small molecules, we can significantly expand the boundaries of targeted protein degraders as a therapeutic modality.”
Dr. Elizabeth Roper, Partner at Epidarex Capital, Dunad’s founding investor, and board director of Dunad, commented: “This collaboration provides validation of Dunad’s differentiated protein degradation technology and explores the full potential of this new modality as a therapeutic approach. We are also excited to welcome BGV and Novartis as investors to the syndicate and look forward to our continued collaboration with the team.”
