Talus Bio and PRISM BioLab collaborate on TF and PPI targets
Talus Bioscience and PRISM BioLab have agreed to join forces with the aim of accelerating the discovery and development of novel small-molecule modulators of transcription factor (TF) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets.
The collaboration combines Talus Bio’s regulome profiling and AI-guided drug discovery platform with PRISM’s chemistry platform.
“This collaboration gives us an unprecedented opportunity to pursue targets that have resisted conventional drug discovery,” said Alex Federation, CEO and Co-Founder of Talus Bio. “Integrating PRISM’s chemistry with Talus’ regulome profiling and AI models allows us to see, in real time, how compounds reshape transcriptional networks in human cells. It’s a step-change in our ability to drug the undruggable.”
Under the agreement, the companies will deploy PRISM’s small-molecule libraries in Talus Bio’s AI-guided regulome profiling screens to identify and optimise novel compounds against high-value TF and PPI targets.
The collaboration aims to generate first-in-class chemical matter with direct functional effects on TF and PPI activity in live human cells.
Talus Bio and PRISM will share the costs of discovery research and development and any profits generated from out-licensing and commercialisation of discovered drug products.
Dai Takehara, PRISM’s President and CEO, commented: “We at PRISM have developed chemistries for PPI targets, but because of the complex nature of these targets, it is often challenging to properly model protein-protein interactions in a biochemical assay. Even when we are successful, we can interrogate only one target at a time, whereas Talus can profile hundreds to thousands of these targets in parallel and in their native environment.
“We believe that the combination of PRISM’s chemistry platform and Talus’s regulome profiling platform has the potential to discover a plethora of inhibitors against previously ‘undruggable’ TF and PPI targets and open a path for the development of novel therapeutics.”
Diana Turner, Deputy Editor, DDW