DGAP-News: Press Release: 4SC Discovery, AiCuris and CRELUX announce drug discovery collaboration

DGAP-News: 4SC AG / Key word(s): Alliance/MiscellaneousPress Release: 4SC Discovery, AiCuris and CRELUX announce drugdiscovery collaboration04.11.2013 / 07:30---------------------------------------------------------------------Press ReleaseAiCuris, 4SC Discovery and CRELUX announce drug discovery collaborationAiCuris will use the high quality integrated drug discovery platform i2c ofCRELUX and 4SC Discovery to identify novel therapeutics for infectiousdiseasesPlanegg-Martinsried and Wuppertal, Germany, 4 November 2013 - 4SC AG(Frankfurt, Prime Standard: VSC), a discovery and development company oftargeted small molecule drugs mainly focusing on cancer and autoimmunediseases, today announced that 4SC Discovery GmbH, CRELUX GmbH and AiCurisGmbH & Co. KG have started a drug discovery collaboration to identify andvalidate novel small molecule compounds targeting pathogen-specificinteractions in infectious diseases. The collaboration is a further prooffor the innovative capacity and the high quality standard of the jointintegrated drug discovery platform i2c ('idea-to-candidate'), operated by4SC Discovery and CRELUX.Based on i2c, CRELUX and 4SC Discovery will discover and optimize smallmolecule compounds with the goal to deliver high quality drug candidatesfor a novel anti-infectious therapeutic approach by AiCuris. A virtualscreening approach using 4SC's proprietary 4SCan(R) method will beperformed to identify various inhibitors to the therapeutic target.Compounds identified as potential inhibitors of the respective target willbe verified by using both, established assays at AiCuris and the INTRACT invitro screening systems at CRELUX. In the course of the further discoveryprocess, protein structures of verified hits with the target will be solvedby i2c to enable rational design and guide the further chemicaloptimization.Prof. Helga Rbsamen-Schaeff, CEO of AiCuris comments: 'We are dedicated tofill our early pipeline with highly innovative next generation drugsagainst infectious diseases with high medical need and which are alsoactive against resistant pathogens. These may be derived from in houseresearch, from licensing or from collaborations.' Dr. Holger Zimmermann,Managing Director and Chief Scientific Officer at AiCuris adds: 'Based onour good experience in collaborating with 4SC we expect to identify soonfirst promising hits for further evaluation in our screening cascades. Thiscollaboration is an important contribution to our in house researchefforts and supports our goal to discover highly efficacious drugs whichhelp to solve major problems in treating infectious diseases.'Dr. Michael Schaeffer, Executive Director Strategy and Business of CRELUXGmbH, comments: 'This collaboration is a further proof of the value i2cbrings to its clients' drug discovery programmes. With Aicuris, we see aperfect fit of ideas, technologies and know-how and are especially pleasedto have gained yet another innovative and reknowned biotech company fromGermany as a partner. With this partnership, CRELUX and 4SC Discoverycontinue to build on their joint strategy to position themselves as premiumsolution providers to the global pharma and biotech industry covering thecomplete drug discovery value chain.'

See the original post:
DGAP-News: Press Release: 4SC Discovery, AiCuris and CRELUX announce drug discovery collaboration

Related Posts

Comments are closed.