Until recently, Medicinal Chemistry has mostly focused on the exploration of biologically active molecules and their optimization towards pharmaceutical applications. There is, however, an increasing need for medicinal chemists to contribute to the drug discovery and development process more broadly, in order to enable the development of truly improved medicines. This includes providing tools for therapeutic target identification and validation, to explore therapeutic and pathological mechanisms, or even support clinical trials.

This symposium, jointly organised by the Société de Chimie Thérapeutique (SCT) and the Division of Medicinal Chemistry & Chemical Biology (DMCCB) of the Swiss Chemical Society, will discuss significant advances that are part of the expanding scope of Medicinal Chemistry. A panel of experts will highlight these developments in the areas of chemical biology, metabolite pattern optimization, structural biology, analytics and clinical imaging tracers with specific examples.

http://www.sct-dmccb2015.org/

We welcome you to the 3rd Antibody & Protein Therapeutics Conference, which will be held October 22-23, 2015 in Boston, MA. This conference strives to connect industry and academic researchers in the protein therapeutics field to facilitate discussion on the current state of the industry and discuss recent studies and challenges involved in therapeutic development.

Representatives from big pharma, academic institutions and government research labs will present data and case studies on key topics including antibody drug conjugates, bispecific antibodies, antibody combinations, and check point inhibiting antibodies. Attend to learn and network with key opinion leaders in a highly interactive and intimate environment!

https://www.gtcbio.com/conferences/antibody-protein-therapeutics-overview

We invite you to attend the Antibody Drug Conjugates Conference, which will take place October 22-23, 2015 in Boston, MA. This event will bring together an exciting balance of industry and academia, so that delegates have the unique opportunity to network with colleagues from different sectors and gain a fresh perspective on the emergence of recent data from ADC clinical trials, new linkers and payloads, personalized healthcare, site specific attachment, and ADC therapeutics.

With the field of antibody drug conjugates rapidly expanding and the increasing number of ADC clinical trials, novel therapeutics are emerging. The ADC therapeutic area combines synthetic chemistry with rationale biology and is advancing monoclonal antibody treatments into the realm of precision medicine with improved effectiveness and therapeutic indices.

https://www.gtcbio.com/conferences/antibody-drug-conjugates-overview

Melbourn, UK and Craigavon, Northern Ireland, UK (5th February 2015) – A strategic alliance has been formed for the marketing and sale of a complete fluorescence lifetime (FLT) technology comprising Almac Group’s proprietary FLEXYTE^® FLT reagents and assays, and TTP Labtech’s new ameon^® microplate reader. Customers can now gain full access to support, and buy equipment and essential reagents all from TTP Labtech, underpinned, behind the scenes, by Almac’s manufacturing and new assay development expertise.

FLT is an attractive alternative to traditional technologies such as FRET, FP and TR-FRET (including HTRF^®) offering homogeneous assay formats and easy automation. Now recognised as a cost-effective and flexible screening approach, FLT has the ability to mitigate the most common forms of compound-related assay interference for better quality hits.

Developed utilising experience in peptide and protein engineering and chemical synthesis and design, Almac’s FLEXYTE assays comprise easy to use reagent chemistries and long lifetime fluorophores to deliver an efficient and economical platform for screening and profiling. The evolving assay platform addresses many major therapeutic target classes including kinases, proteases, phosphatases, DUBs and an increasing number of epigenetic targets and protein-protein interactions (PPIs).

TTP Labtech’s ameon FLT reader technology has been optimised for Almac’s FLEXYTE assays through an extensive beta-partner program involving four major pharmaceutical companies. The result is a system providing high speed, precise measurement of FLEXYTE assays that can be readily integrated into HTS workflows.

“We are extremely excited to bring to the market a compelling and comprehensive offering for FLT equipment and assay provision. The partnership between Almac and TTP Labtech unlocks synergy and leverages great strength and depth from both organisations.” said Dr Stephen Barr, President and Managing Director of Almac’s Sciences’ Business Unit.

“Becoming the ‘go-to’ company for FLT sales is an exciting new prospect for TTP Labtech” said Dr Wayne Bowen, Chief Scientific Officer of TTP Labtech. “The FLEXYTE and ameon combination aims to set a new benchmark for productive screening through better discrimination of lead compounds”.

For further information please visit http://ttplabtech.com/applications/fluorescence-lifetime-assays/

FREISING, GERMANY, February 12, 2015 – XL-protein GmbH, Germany, a privately owned biopharmaceutical company, announced today that they have entered into a license agreement with MSD Animal Health (known as Merck Animal Health in the USA and Canada) to develop PASylated biopharmaceuticals for use in animal health. This license agreement follows a research collaboration between the two companies which began in 2012 and included a feasibility study in target animals.

Under the terms of the agreement, MSD Animal Health acquires worldwide exclusive rights for certain biopharmaceutical drug candidates. In support of the commercialization effort, XLprotein will further optimize the drug candidates against undisclosed MSD Animal Health targets using its proprietary PASylation platform for plasma half-life extension. This technology has been previously used for human health medications. MSD Animal Health will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization of biopharmaceuticals generated under the collaboration.

“We are delighted to be working with such a renowned partner as MSD Animal Health, who is a leader in the field of veterinary medicine”, said Claus Schalper, CEO&CFO of XL-protein. Prof. Dr. Arne Skerra, CSO of XL-protein, added: “This agreement with MSD Animal Health reflects the significant advantages we have seen for our PASylation platform over competing technologies for creating biologic drug candidates with extended half-life and enhanced action, especially with regard to tolerance and biodegradability in treated subjects.”

“We strongly believe in the product development synergies between human and animal health and look forward to the opportunities this collaboration will offer to meet the unique challenges in the animal health market,” says Holger Lehmann, Head of Drug Discovery at MSD Animal Health.

About XL-protein GmbH

XL-protein is a privately owned biopharmaceutical company based in Freising, Germany, which exploits its proprietary PASylation® technology to develop biologics with extended plasma half-life and enhanced in vivo activity. PASylation is a fully biological technology that can be applied both to approved biopharmaceuticals to yield second generation drugs (‘biobetters’) or to innovative therapeutic proteins or peptides, thus allowing less frequent and lower dosing combined with better patient tolerability. XL-protein pursues the preclinical and the clinical development of PASylated biologics in commercially attractive disease areas. Furthermore, XL-protein is engaged in various collaborations with the Pharma and Biotech industry and offers licenses.

For more information, please visit: www.xl-protein.com