Gilead, Polyphor Partner to Discover Macrocycle Drugs

The collaboration aims to identify and optimize macrocycle molecules addressing challenging biological targets selected by Gilead. Under the terms of the Agreement, Polyphor will receive an upfront payment and research funding, and will be eligible for further milestone payments. In the initial phase of the collaboration Polyphor will apply its entire macrocycle platform consisting of nonpeptidic macrocyles (MacroFinder® ), peptidic macrocycles (PEMfinder® , protein-epitope mimetics) and phage display of PEM-like molecules (PEMphage® ) to generate tractable macrocycle hit families for further optimization. 

Dr. Daniel Obrecht, Chief Scientific Officer of Polyphor said “The collaboration with Gilead is another important milestone for Polyphor. Applying Polyphor’s proprietary macrocycle platform in joint drug discovery projects maximizes the value of the technology for our partners and us. Partnerships with biopharmaceutical companies are a key element of our strategy to realize the full potential of this novel drug class, while focusing our own R&D activities on novel antibiotics and rare respiratory diseases.”