Cambridge-based biotech Isogenica announces new partnership with Phylogica

Isogenica and Phylogica target peptide drugs for inflammatory disease. Isogenica Ltd today announced that it has entered into an agreement with Australian-based biopharmaceutical company Phylogica to use Isogenica’s CIS display technology to optimise the performance of three of Phylogica’s lead compounds targeting CD40 ligand (CD40L). CD40L is a key protein involved in many inflammatory diseases, such as Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Isogenica specialises in the discovery of therapeutic and diagnostic peptides and proteins, using its proprietary technology, CIS display. Founded in 2000 the company has developed a unique capability in the field of peptide engineering. Isogenica's CIS display technology is an in vitro display technology that allows the rapid generation of polypeptide libraries of unprecedented size and complexity from which it is possible to select polypeptides with high affinity and specificity for most targets. Having already demonstrated lead peptide compounds that bind with high affinity and are biologically active against CD40L, Phylogica will utilise Isogenica’s CIS display technology to initiate a comprehensive search process to optimise the exact chemical and three dimensional structure required to further enhance the properties of the Phylomer peptides, helping improve drug properties such as affinity, stability and potency. ‘We believe that the use of CIS display will accelerate the rapid entry of Phylogica drug candidates into preclinical development programmes and increase their commercial value’, said Professor Paul Watt, Phylogica’s VP, Corporate Development. ‘Phylomers are sourced from the most structurally diverse peptide libraries in the world which translates into exceptionally high bioactive hit rates, including primary hits with picomolar affinities for their targets’, Prof Watt added. Kevin Matthews, CEO of Isogenica commented of the partnership: ‘Isogenica is focused on servicing the protein engineering needs of the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. As such we are delighted to have the opportunity to work with Phylogica, combining technologies that have the potential to discover novel and potent therapeutic peptides.’ Phylogica joins over a dozen leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies that have already partnered with Isogenica in the discovery of novel peptides for therapeutic and nontherapeutic applications or for licenses. These include Amgen, AstraZeneca, Centocor, GE Healthcare, Invitrogen, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Smiths Detection Systems, UCB, Wyeth. Pictured: Kevin Matthews, CEO of Isogenica. Tuesday, 2nd February 2010