Flagship Pioneering and ProFound Therapeutics have entered a collaboration to conduct foundational research to identify potential next-generation first-in-class therapies for the treatment of obesity. The collaboration is the first initiated under Flagship's Pioneering Medicines strategic partnership with Pfizer announced in July 2023.
Pioneering Medicines, Flagship's in house drug discovery and development unit, is responsible for leading the partnership with Pfizer, including driving the exploration process to rapidly surface potential drug development programs built on Flagship's diverse bioplatforms and modalities.
"We are thrilled to be part of the Flagship and Pfizer partnership and to collaborate with Pioneering Medicines to discover and validate novel proteins that have the potential to lead to innovative, first-in-class medicines for patients with obesity," said Dr John Lepore, CEO of ProFound Therapeutics and Flagship Pioneering CEO-Partner. "Through our ProFoundry Platform, we have discovered and validated an extensive library of novel proteins that unlock a new universe of possibilities for treating many different diseases, and I'm excited to apply this platform to novel therapies for obesity through this collaboration."
"Since launching this unique alliance between Flagship and Pfizer we have been working together to rapidly build out a portfolio of exploration programs," said Paul Biondi, Flagship Executive Partner and President of Pioneering Medicines. "This agreement will enable ProFound to explore how its pioneering platform can tackle unmet need in obesity. It is an exciting milestone for the partnership and the pipeline of programs we are developing to deliver potential new and transformational medicines."
Under this collaboration, ProFound will deploy its proprietary ProFoundry Platform in collaboration with Pioneering Medicines' drug development expertise to collectively discover novel proteins and evaluate their therapeutic relevance for the treatment of obesity. After early validation activities by ProFound, Pfizer will have the option to advance selected research programmes under the terms of the strategic partnership between Pfizer and Flagship.
"This agreement – the first under our broader strategic partnership with Flagship – is designed to push the boundaries of science to potentially unlock new protein therapeutics for obesity leveraging ProFound's proprietary discovery platform," said Charlotte Allerton, Head of Discovery and Early Development, Pfizer. "With obesity expected to impact 1.9 billion people globally by 2035, it is critical to continue breakthrough discovery research that may lead to new, first-in-class therapies that help address current gaps in care."
Commentaires