Axxam and Polyphor agree research partnership
For the treatment of Type 2 diabetes funded by the EU
Axxam of Italy and Swiss research firm Polyphor are to collaborate in a joint three-year research project focused on the discovery and development of GLP-1R modulators for treating Type 2 diabetes.
The partnership will receive funding from the EU as part of the Eurostars Program, a joint initiative between EUREKA and the EU’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7), aimed at supporting innovation within the European Union.
Axxam and Polyphor will develop tailored functional assays to address different potential mechanisms of action on the GLP-1R, including agonists, allosteric modulators or inhibitors for receptor desensitisation.
Chiara Liberati, head of discovery at Axxam, says the company has developed several technologies for drug discovery research of GPCRs, including new functional readout systems, such as Photina and chAMPion.
Polyphor is exploiting its PEMfinder and MacroFinder libraries, which have generated promising PEMdrug candidates and highly potent and selective novel molecular entities, even on challenging biological targets such as protein-protein interactions, GPCRs and ion channels.
‘This EU-funded research partnership will provide the opportunity to apply these technologies to a complex target addressing the potential treatment of diabetes,’ said Daniel Obrecht, chief scientific officer at Polyphor.
‘If this research programme yields promising GLP-1R modulators, Axxam and Polyphor will aim to establish a research alliance with a pharma partner for the further development and commercialisation of such products.’