Salipro Biotech and Sumitomo Pharma Partner For Drug Discovery

Salipro Biotech and Sumitomo Pharma have formed a research partnership to better understand the pharmacological properties of a molecule from Sumitomo's drug discovery program. Both firms hope to improve Sumitomo's drug development program by revealing the mechanism of action and pharmacological characterization of a drug candidate with therapeutic potential against a specific target.

According to the terms of the deal, Swedish biotech Salipro will use its Salipro technology platform to stabilize difficult membrane proteins such as GPCRs, ion channels, and transporters. Over 60% of all currently available medications interact with membrane proteins contained in the lipid membrane - fatty molecules that are part of the cell membrane and control what gets in and out of cells. These proteins, however, can be unstable and challenging to study for medication development.

Salipro DirectMX technology allows for the direct reconstitution of membrane proteins from cell membranes into Salipro particles, allowing for the exploration of new pharmacological targets with their original lipids.The nano-membrane technology platform works by preserving membrane proteins in their natural state, allowing them to be used in drug discovery programs for therapeutic antibodies or small-molecule medicines to unlock difficult pharmacological targets. Commenting on the collaboration, chief executive officer of Salipro Biotech, Jens Frauenfeld, said: "By combining our expertise with Sumitomo Pharma’s advanced capabilities in central nervous system drug discovery and development, we aim to shed light on the therapeutic potential of a drug candidate." Isao Shimizu, executive officer, senior vice president, head of drug research division, and senior executive research director at Sumitomo Pharma, said: "Collaborating with Salipro Biotech represents an exciting opportunity to accelerate our understanding of the mechanism of action of our novel drug candidate. "We look forward to working together to investigate its pharmacological characteristics."