A recent study demonstrated a new method for rapidly and efficiently identifying lead compounds for drug discovery. The method described in the study is based on technology developed by Tutzing, Germany-based biotechnology company NascaCell GmbH, which also has exclusive rights to the unique screening method.
The study, conducted by researchers at Germany's University of Bonn Kekulé Institute for Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, demonstrated several applications for a screening method that analyzes real time interactions between two proteins or between a protein and small molecules. This allowed the researchers, for example, to rapidly identify a possible HIV-inhibitor, as well as to better understand the interactions between the blood-clotting factor thrombin and its protein partners. The screening method can also easily be adapted to analyze a whole range of proteins, rather than just one specific target.
"This study underscores how NascaCell can help pharmaceutical companies to dramatically reduce the time necessary for identifying quality lead compounds to novel drug targets," says Andreas Jenne, NascaCell's CEO. Current efforts at NascaCell focus on working with pharmaceutical companies to generate lead compounds in other critical health areas. "We are currently in negotiations with a number of companies to develop applications in the areas of anti-infectives and immunosuppression treatments," says Jenne.
The screening method used in the University of Bonn study utilized aptamers - small nucleic acid binders - combined with ribozymes, naturally occurring RNA sequences with catalytic properties. NascaCell has received one patent and filed ten more in the area of aptamer technology. Its proprietary process equips the aptamers with additional functions, transforming them into what it calls Nucleic Acid Biotools (NABs). These reengineered NABs are highly efficient at target identification, target validation and drug screening. NascaCell's proprietary NAB-Conversion process uses NABs with demonstrated inhibitory effects on a given target protein to screen for functionally equivalent pharmaceutical lead compounds.