Kinaxo extends collaboration with Takeda
Kinaxo will apply its PhosphoScout technology to drug development at Takeda
Kinaxo Biotechnologies of Germany, which was acquired by Evotec last month in a €12m deal, has entered a second collaboration with Japanese pharmaceutical firm Takeda in which Kinaxo will apply its quantitative phosphoproteomics technology PhosphoScout to drug development at Takeda, allowing Takeda to take early decisions on drug efficacy and safety. Financial details of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The companies entered their previous collaboration in April 2008, which involved Kinaxo’s Cellular Target Profiling technology.
PhosphoScout enables quantitative analysis of cellular phosphoproteomes on a global scale. Since signal transmission in eukaryotic cells is mainly regulated by reversible protein phosphorylation, analysis of phosphoproteome modulation in response to drug treatment can provide valuable insights into a drug’s mode of action. The technology can also identify differentially regulated phosphorylation sites in vivo that may serve as pharmacodynamic or drug response biomarkers in clinical trials.
PhosphoScout uses mass spectrometry to quantify approximately 15,000 phosphorylation sites in a single experiment. Proprietary bioinformatic software tools are applied to visualise the drug’s effects on the cellular signal transduction pathway and to help identify phospho-protein biomarkers.
