Nuevolution is working to discover small molecule compounds against Lexicon Pharmaceuticals’ validated targets. The company will leverage its Chemetics® drug discovery technology.
Nuevolution will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible for milestone fees and royalties. In the future, Nuevolution will have the option to expand its involvement in certain programs under a cost- and profit-sharing arrangement.
Lexicon identified the targets on its Genome5000™ program where the company explored the physiological and behavioral function of nearly 5,000 human genes by studying the corresponding mouse genes in knockout animals. This reportedly led to the identification of more than 100 validated drug targets.
The Chemetics platform enables hit identification and hit-to-lead optimization through the screening of multiple fragment-based small molecule libraries of more than 100 million compounds per library, Neuvolution explains.
“Our proprietary Chemetics platform uses innovative DNA labeling to allow fragment-based drug screening at an unprecedented scale,” according to Alex Gouliaev, CEO of Nuevolution. “We believe this generates high-quality hits and leads far more rapidly and reliably than current ultrahigh-throughput methods.”