4SC Discovery has won a €600,000 (approximately $778,000) grant to support a research collaboration with researchers at the Immune Pharmacology group at the Medical Clinic of the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, focused on preclinical development of TLR7 and TLR8 agonists for cancer immunotherapy. The grant, has been awarded through the Munich-based biotech cluster programme m4. 4SC Discovery says the collaboration with the Ludwig-Maximilians University researchers will accelerate development and optimization of the compounds for progression into clinical development.
4SC Discovery is a 4SC drug discovery subsidiary with specialist expertise in epigenetics, cancer stem cells, and cancer immunotherapy. The firm’s small molecule TLR agonists are designed to stimulate the immune system to release interferons and other cytokines and chemokines to aid in the destruction of the primary tumor when administered in combination with chemotherapy.
4SC Discovery in addition offers standalone services for computational chemistry, in silico screening, medicinal and analytical chemistry, along with integrated small molecule drug discovery services spanning hit identification through to preclinical development. In April the firm teamed up with protein crystallography specialist Crelux to offer joint drug discovery services through an i2c (idea to candidate) initiative that combines their respective expertise.
More recently, in June, 4SC Discovery and Crelux announced a compound screening collaboration with Ribological, which aims to identify and optimize small molecule anticancer compounds that act in synergy with Ribological’s cancer immunotherapy candidates.