Cumulus Oncology and leadXpro Achieve Critical Milestone in GPR68 Drug Discovery Project
20 Agosto 2024 - 2:00AM
Cumulus Oncology, Europe’s first oncology-focused biotech creation
company, announces that, in partnership with its collaborator
leadXpro (LXP), key milestones have been achieved in their protein
structure driven GPR68 drug discovery project. As a result, Cumulus
has licensed the small molecule compounds and associated IP created
during this collaboration and will continue the programme to lead
optimisation and beyond.
In July 2023, Cumulus Oncology and LXP announced a collaboration
to develop small molecules against GPR68, an important proton
sensing G protein coupled receptor (GPCR), using the latest
cutting-edge computational, biophysical and structural biology
technologies. Achieving a world first, LXP has solved
high-resolution antagonist protein structures of GPR68, rapidly
informing compound design. This has enabled the partnership to
identify, in under 12 months, a series of potent and selective
small molecules for therapeutic intervention in cancer and
inflammation, leading to this licensing event. The collaboration
will now move to an accelerated drug optimisation phase leveraging
these established cutting-edge rational drug design and
computational techniques.
LXP will receive a share in revenues from future
commercialisation of the project. Further financial details are not
disclosed. As the GPR68 programme progresses, Cumulus plans to file
for regulatory approval to start clinical development through its
Swiss-based portfolio company, GIO Therapeutics, which has been
incorporated to develop a portfolio of GPCR targeting assets. The
GPR68 programme represents the first programme that will be
developed by GIO Therapeutics.
Cumulus Oncology’s CEO Clare Wareing said, “The
LeadXpro team are world leading experts in GPCR drug discovery and
deciphering membrane protein structures to improve human health.
This successful collaboration, and the milestones achieved, have
resulted in the licensing agreement between Cumulus and LXP,
exemplifying the Cumulus model. Cumulus takes a platform and
modality agnostic approach to identifying new targets and assets,
seeking out opportunities that have the potential to transform
therapeutic options for patients poorly served by existing
treatments. When these assets reach key inflection points, they are
taken forward in new companies that we create and manage.”
leadXpro’s Co-founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board,
Michael Hennig added, “We’re delighted to have achieved
this major drug development milestone working with Cumulus
Oncology. Clare and her team share our passion for structure-based
drug discovery. Together we have achieved fantastic success with
our medicinal, computational chemistry, biophysics and structural
biology input in a short span of time. We are looking forward to
continuing the collaboration on this therapeutically important
proton sensing GPCR. This continues to be a very positive
relationship and shows us to be the partner of choice for
structure-based drug design of novel membrane protein targets.”
About Cumulus Oncology
Cumulus Oncology is Europe’s first biotech company creation
factory dedicated to the development of novel therapeutics. It
sources novel oncology assets from academic institutes, commercial
drug discovery groups, and biopharmaceutical companies as well as
its own internal asset search engine. An early focus on molecularly
selected patient sub-groups is a key aspect of the business model.
The company incorporates the use of artificial intelligence (AI)
and machine learning (ML) platforms into its decision-making
process to prioritize targets and assets and build patient
sub-group hypotheses.
Cumulus currently has two spinout companies under management;
Nodus Oncology, a DDR portfolio company where the lead asset is a
PARG inhibitor program with a positive data package, and GIO
Therapeutics AG which was launched in 2024, with a focus on
developing therapeutics targeting GPCRs for oncology and
inflammation.
Cumulus contributes both early-stage capital and oncology drug
development expertise and manages each spinout company to achieve
key development milestones and value inflection points. The Cumulus
team has extensive drug discovery and development expertise with a
collective track record in successful drug approvals over the last
20 years.
Follow the company on LinkedIn and see the website for more
information.
About leadXpro AG
leadXpro AG is a biotechnology company specialized in
structure-based drug discovery for membrane proteins. Membrane
proteins are the most promising targets for drug discovery, yet
also the most challenging. To unlock these targets, we bring
together specialized knowledge in protein science, pioneering
technologies in structural biology and expertise in ligand design
and characterization. leadXpro’s research covers a range of
membrane proteins, including GPCRs, ion channels, transporters, and
enzymes. leadXpro acts as a research partner for a growing number
of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic partners.
About Proton Sensing GPCRs
Proton-sensing G protein-coupled receptors are
transmembrane receptors which sit in the outer membrane of cells.
They sense changes in the acidity of the environment outside the
cell and transmit this information into the cell with instructions
on how to adapt. This naturally beneficial and adaptive response
can go awry and/or be hijacked by cancerous or diseased cells to
enable them to survive in a low pH (acidic) environment. Such
receptors are an underexploited target class.
Media Inquiries
Cumulus Oncology
Clare Wareing, Cumulus CEO
cwareing@cumulusoncology.com
leadXpro AG
Michael Hennig, leadXpro CEO
michael.hennig@leadxpro.com
Scius Communications (for Cumulus Oncology)
Katja Stout
Tel: +44 7789 435 990
katja@sciuscommunications.com
Daniel Gooch
Tel: +44 7747 875 479
daniel@sciuscommunications.com