Based in Santa Cruz, CA, UNP has developed a platform for designing and optimizing macrocyclic peptides \u2013 its \u201cunnatural products\u201d \u2013 to reach biological targets that have historically been considered undruggable. Beyond cardiovascular disease, the company believes it approach has potential to drive in a wide range of chronic and age-related conditions. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis collaboration reflects the broader potential of our macrocyclic peptide platform beyond any single program,\u201d UNP CEO Dr Cameron Pye, told us. \u201cMany of the most important chronic diseases, from cardiovascular, obesity, and metabolic disorders to neurodegeneration and fibrosis are driven by protein interactions that have historically been difficult to target with conventional small molecules or biologics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Cameron Pye is the CEO of Unnatural Products <\/p>\n
Macrocyclic peptides sit in a middle ground between small molecules and biologics \u2013 large enough to achieve the kind of selectivity and binding strength associated with biologic drugs, while still offering chemical flexibility that can support drug-like properties, including the potential for oral dosing. UNP claims these qualities make them particularly suitable for targets where small molecules struggle to bind effectively and antibodies face challenges related to delivery, tissue penetration, or the need for injections.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy combining AI-enhanced design with rapid synthesis and screening, we can create orally deliverable macrocycles capable of modulating these challenging targets,\u201d Pye told us. \u201cOur goal is to open new therapeutic avenues across a wide range of chronic diseases associated, where patients urgently need more precise and durable treatment options.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the Novartis collaboration, UNP will contribute its discovery engine and platform expertise, while Novartis will take responsibility for IND-enabling studies and then carry products forward through clinical development, manufacturing and global commercialization. The emphasis on cardiovascular disease indicates where the companies expect the approach could fit, whether by enabling new mechanisms, improving selectivity against complex targets, or offering dosing formats that are more practical for chronic use.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdvances in macrocyclic chemistry are opening entirely new avenues in drug discovery, allowing us to engage targets at a dose and with a pharmacological versatility not possible with many other approaches,\u201d said Novartis\u2019 head of discovery Muneto Mogi.<\/p>\n
UNP has already leaned extensively into pharma collaborations as a route to scale its platform and validate its work. In July of last year, the company announced a potential $1.5 billion research collaboration with argenx<\/a> focused on discovering and developing oral macrocyclic peptide drugs against traditionally difficult targets. In 2023, the company raised a $32 million Series A financing<\/a> led by Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and ARTIS Ventures.<\/p>\n Main Photograph: EllaSD\/Shutterstock; photograph of Dr Cameron Pye courtesy of UNP. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Company aims to drug the \u2018undruggable\u2019 with macrocyclic peptide approach that has potential in multiple age-related diseases. Curiously-named…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[127],"tags":[9554,2059,9625,8081,4461,9626,1202,206,5921,8774],"class_list":["post-13226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-novartis","tag-cardiovascular-disease","tag-collaboration","tag-cvd","tag-heart-disease","tag-longevity","tag-macrocyclic-peptide","tag-news","tag-novartis","tag-partnership","tag-unnatural-products"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}