Domain Therapeutics inked a licensing and partnership agreement on G-protein coupled receptors (GPCR) biosensor technology with Université de Montréal (UdeM) and its commercialization unit, with the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer–Commercialization of Research, as well as with McGill University.
As part of the agreement, Domain will make an undisclosed upfront payment and pay an annual access fee for the technology as well as royalties on income earned from sales of screening services and sales of drugs resulting from its own research and partnership activities. The company will also provide financial support for the discovery of new biosensors.
The GPCR biosensor technology was developed with the support of a grant from the Quebec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM). This project was overseen by a team of researchers from UdeM’s Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer led by Michel Bouvier, Ph.D.
The agreement gives Domain co-exclusive access to biosensor technology developed by Dr. Bouvier’s team. According to UdeM, this new approach makes it possible to discriminate the functional activation of intracellular signaling pathways associated with GPCRs. The university considers it a prime technology for accelerating the discovery and development of biased ligands for this class of receptors.
Additionally, Domain will profile drug candidates for the pharma and biotech industries. Domain also leverages a screening platform called DTect-All™, designed to discover drugs that target GPCRs. By combining the two technologies, the company aims to discover and optimize more effective non-toxic therapeutic candidates for its internal programs and for collaborative programs with industry partners.
The biosensor technology already covers more than 20 signaling pathways and a partnership will also be set up for the joint development of additional biosensors, under the terms of the agreement. IRIC researchers and their colleagues from UdeM, McGill University and Université de Sherbrooke will contribute their research expertise in molecular pharmacology.