| | | BioLeap announces: Highly cost-effective lead identification and optimization services using the next generation of structure-based design. BioLeap's technology determines the location, orientation, and binding affinities of chemical moieties in relation to a target protein. These are used to build or modify ligands that achieve design goals such as potency, bioavailability, selectivity, or insensitivity to mutations. This information allows our chemists to access a very large chemical diversity that is relevant to the target receptor. By predicting the impact on affinity of chemical modifications, only a small number of very specific compounds need to be synthesized and tested. With a small number of compounds, it is economical to do a broader range of bioassays, such as in vitro, cell, and ADME assays, at each stage of optimization. This results in faster optimization and more information from each cycle.
Bio-assays early = an immediate focus on drugability = higher success Less wet chemistry = more “shots on goal” per dollar invested Without HTS or virtual library screening Link to a full description of BioLeap's service offering
| Internally, the company applies its technology and expertise to therapeutically proven targets where opportunities exist to significantly improve drug performance with novel compounds. BioLeap has internal pre-clinical development programs for anti-bacterials, hepatitis-C, and inflammation. Two of these involve established partnerships.
Announcements 1. Dr. Raymond Salemme joins BioLeap’s Advisory Board. “Dr. Salemme is broadly recognized in the pharmaceutical industry as a business leader and entrepreneur with deep expertise in the application of crystallography and structure-based design to drug discovery and, more broadly, to molecular research. As the founder of 3D-Pharmaceuticals (3DP), he was the first to integrate crystallography, calorimetry-based label-free assays, and state-of-the-art cheminformatics into a high-efficiency discovery platform. He led 3DP from founding, through IPO, and eventual sale to Johnson & Johnson. We are excited by the opportunity to benefit from Ray's experience and guidance at BioLeap in building a capital-efficient business leveraging our new techniques in moiety-based design of novel therapeutic compounds”, commented Dr. John Kulp, CEO of BioLeap. "I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with BioLeap. They have a great team that has developed a streamlined approach to structure-based drug design that can be leveraged to a variety of business models", commented Dr. Raymond Salemme. Dr. Salemme is currently the CEO of Redpoint Bio, a leading biotechnology company developing better tasting products for the pharmaceutical, food and beverage industries. Previously Dr. Salemme was the founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (3DP), a publicly traded biotechnology company founded in 1993, and acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2003. Dr. Salemme established and directed the technical, operating, business and financing strategies leading to 3DP's successful IPO in 2000, and was co-inventor on 30 of 3DP's key technology patents. Dr. Salemme received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Greater Philadelphia in 1998 for his role in building 3DP. Prior to 3DP, Dr. Salemme directed research groups for biophysics, computational chemistry, and structure-based drug design at Sterling Winthrop Pharmaceuticals and DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals. Prior to DuPont Merck, he worked at DuPont Central Research, where he directed molecular design teams for new pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and engineered biopolymers. Dr. Salemme joined DuPont from Genex Corporation, one of the first biotechnology companies, where he pioneered the use of X-ray crystallography and computer-aided molecular design for engineering proteins with novel or enhanced functional properties. Prior to Genex, Dr. Salemme was Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arizona, where he worked in the area of structural proteomics and determined the 3D X-ray structures of several redox proteins. 2. Dr. Timothy M. Block joins BioLeap's Advisory Board: “Tim is internationally recognized for his outstanding scholarship and scientific contributions to hepatitis and virus research. BioLeap is strategically commitment to developing novel compounds in this space, making Tim an ideal addition to our Advisory Board.”, commented Gerry Evans, EVP of BioLeap. Dr. Block is the Co-Founder and volunteer President of the Hepatitis B Foundation and its research affiliate the Institute for Hepatitis and Virus Research. He has been involved in viral hepatitis research for more than 20 years. Dr. Block is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, Drexel University College of Medicine, and Director of the Drexel Institute for Biotechnology and Virology Research.
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