• 21 May 2021
• Admin
• News Article

Sosei Heptares Doses First Subject In Clinical Trial With New Drug Candidate Nominated From Multi-target Drug Discovery Collaboration With Pfizer

Sosei Group Corporation has been notified by Pfizer that the first subject in a clinical trial has been dosed with a new drug candidate nominated from the multi-target drug discovery collaboration between the two companies. This candidate was nominated for advancement by Pfizer in December 2019 generating a US$ 3 million milestone payment at that time. Pfizer nominated three distinct clinical candidates from the collaboration with Sosei Heptares during 2019, all of which are now progressing in phase I clinical trials. These candidates have also now been disclosed by Pfizer as the PF-07081532 (an oral GLP1 receptor agonist for Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Obesity), PF-07054894 (a CCR6 antagonist targeting Inflammatory Bowel Disease) and PF-07258669 (an MC4 receptor antagonist for Anorexia).This candidate is the ninth GPCR-targeted drug candidate overall originating from Sosei Heptares’ StaR technology and structure-based drug design (SBDD) platform to enter clinical trials.Dr. Rob Cooke, chief technology officer of Sosei Heptares said, “The start of clinical trials with this new clinical candidate is a further important milestone in our highly productive and longstanding collaboration with Pfizer. It is a clear demonstration of the power of our structure-based design and discovery capabilities when combined with the complementary development expertise of a truly collaborative partner. This productivity is further exemplified by the fact that nine candidates derived from our platform have entered clinical trials across multiple disease areas, with more than 20 active programs underway either with partners or in house. This broad portfolio of exciting new drug candidates has potential to address significant unmet need globally and generate significant future value for shareholders.”Sosei Heptares and Pfizer entered a multi-target drug discovery collaboration in November 2015 to research and develop potential new medicines directed at GPCR targets across multiple therapeutic areas. Many of these targets have clinical or biological validation as key points for therapeutic intervention potentially targeting a range of diseases but have proven difficult to address with conventional discovery approaches because of inherent technical challenges.To address these challenges, Sosei Heptares and Pfizer scientists worked closely together to leverage their respective complementary expertise in enabling GPCR-focused structure-based drug design (SBDD) and development directed to the GPCR targets selected by Pfizer. Pfizer is responsible for developing and commercializing any potential therapeutic agents (small molecules or biologics) for each target and will have exclusive global rights to any potential resulting agents.