Domainex, Imperial College London join hands to discover new therapies for myocardial infarction

Imperial has secured £3m in funding from the Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery program to build upon the research of professor Michael Schneider, the British Heart Foundation Simon Marks Chair in Regenerative Cardiology.

Schneider group’s key research activities in Imperial’s National Heart and Lung Institute will include discovery of enzyme pathways activated by cardiac stress that result in the apoptosis of cardiac muscle cells.

As Imperial’s drug discovery partner, Domainex will deliver services such as biochemical and biophysical assay development, compound screening and medicinal chemistry for advancing the project towards pre-clinical development.

Schneider said: "Our target is activated, invariably, in diseased human hearts, and its suppression already protects human heart muscle cells from dying in the laboratory.

"If we can succeed in taking this forward as a new therapy for myocardial infarction, this would have major benefits for patients, their families, and healthcare providers alike.

Under the deal, Domainex will also carry out lead identification and optimisation studies on the serine/threonine protein kinase enzyme target mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase kinase 4 (MAP4K4).

The company intends to deliver candidate drug molecules meeting a series of defined criteria.

According to the Heart Research Institute report, there are more than 124,000 heart attacks in the UK every year.