Hybrigenics, sells non-core research patents
Hybrigenics, a biopharmaceutical r&d company specialised in oncology is to focus research efforts on ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) and their inhibitors in cancer and will divested the patent portfolio of Semaia, its Dutch subsidiary, on the Wnt-pathway and the EPAC targets.
Hybrigenics, a biopharmaceutical r&d company specialised in oncology is to focus research efforts on ubiquitin-specific proteases (USPs) and their inhibitors in cancer and will divested the patent portfolio of Semaia, its Dutch subsidiary, on the Wnt-pathway and the EPAC targets.
USPs are a family of cysteine-proteases implicated in the regulation of protein degradation. Hybrigenics has identified and validated several USPs involved in the control of cell proliferation. Because uncontrolled cell proliferation is one of the hallmarks of cancer, these selected USPs represent particularly attractive new targets for cancer therapeutics.
The Wnt pathway package, including proprietary targets, assays and research results, has been sold by Semaia, Hybrigenics' Dutch subsidiary, to Kiadis Pharma, and patents on EPAC proteins and EPAC modulators to the University of Utrecht, the institution to which their inventor, Professor Hans Bos, is affiliated.
The Wnt pathway is involved in cell differentiation while EPACs are primarily diabetes targets; both scientific areas, although promising by themselves, are not directly relevant to USP research. Financial details were not disclosed.