UCB links with ConfometRX for neuroscience research

Belgium’s largest drugmaker UCB (Euronext Brussels: UCB) has signed a research agreement with California, USA-based ConfometRX to enable the discovery of novel medicines addressing unmet medical needs in the field of neuroscience.

Under this two-year multi-target agreement - financial details of which were not disclosed but include an upfront payment, research funding and success-based milestone, UCB and ConfometRx will leverage structural biology to gain insight into G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) modulation towards the design of differentiated drugs. GPCRs are the largest family of signaling proteins in the human genome. They are involved in virtually all physiological processes and represent the single largest target class for medicines on the market.

Ismail Kola, executive vice president and president, NewMedicines at UCB, said: “GPCR crystallization remains a challenge and requires state-of-the-art technologies as well as expertise. Professor Brian Kobilka [founder of ConfometRx] is the first to have succeeded in crystallizing a GPCR target in the active state and was awarded the chemistry Nobel Prize for his work in the field of GPCR structural biology. We look forward to working with ConfometRX as part of our continued strategy to innovate in drug discovery, transforming knowledge and insight into health-changing invention….The collaboration with ConfometRx is another example of UCB’s strategies at work where we are continuing building supernetworks of innovation that are aimed at building superior and sustainable value for patients.”