Recipient: Darmstadt University of Technology
Funding: GO-Bio initial conceptual phase 4 (01/10/2023 to 30/09/2024, EUR 119,994.00)

Project description:

The MoProX project addresses the problem that numerous disease-relevant proteins do not have a binding pocket for traditional, small molecule drugs and thus cannot be used for therapeutic approaches.

The core idea of MoProX is to develop new drugs, so-called molecular glues, that can bind to two proteins at the same time in a cooperative manner. Initially, the active ingredient binds highly potently to an adapter protein. The adapter protein-drug complex can now bind to a specific target protein through a much larger contact area, which does not have a classic binding pocket for small active substances. The target protein is inhibited by the binding, which achieves a therapeutic effect.

For the MoProX project applicants will be provided with an extensive, self-developed drug library for two types of adapter proteins as well as specific screening technologies. The molecular glues approach allows access to a completely new group of drugs and thus new therapeutic approaches for diseases that were previously difficult to treat but occur widely, such as various types of cancer, diabetes, chronic pain or depression. In the upcoming exploratory phase a concept for the best possible utilisation of the molecular glues is to be developed. To this end an IP strategy will be developed, the market and competition will be analysed and an implementation plan for the subsequent feasibility phase will be drawn up.