Xconomy: Ensemble Adds to Cast of Partners With Alexion Deal
Summary
Ensemble Adds to Cast of Partners With Alexion Deal (Page 2 of 2) turned any of its engineered macrocycles into an actual drug that has been approved by regulators, the concept intrigues pharmaceutical companies because of the potential to combine the precision targeting capability of a biologic drug with the advantages of a small molecule, which can be made into a convenient, oral pill.Research Triangle Park, NC-based Tranzyme specifically eyed macrocycles as well, before struggling, changing direction, and ultimately merging with San Diego-based Ocera Therapeutics.Ensemble, however, distinguishes itself due to the largest library of man-made macrocycles out there, using a fast, cheap, industrialized method based on technology licensed from David Liu’s lab at Harvard University to create them.The company designed an oral drug that blocks the cytokine interleukin-17, which is implicated in a slew of inflammatory diseases, among them psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis.A number of companies such as Novartis, Eli Lilly, and Amgen, are developing injectable drugs that inhibit IL-17, but Taylor says that Ensemble has the only oral candidate to target it.
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