ORIG3N, Sharp Edge form drug discovery alliance

As part of the alliance, ORIG3N will make patient-derived cells available to Sharp Edge Labs for use in their drug discovery platform for genetic disorders.

Previously, patients only became involved in the drug discovery process at its later stages, when a compound was being tested in clinical trials.

The new approach that ORIG3N and Sharp Edge Labs are undertaking will bring patient cells into the drug discovery process much earlier with the intent of creating a truly patient-driven drug discovery pipeline.

"We are now involving patients earlier in the drug discovery process – this is a special moment in medicine." Said Scott Sneddon, CEO of Sharp Edge Labs.

"By combining our technologies, we are tailoring treatments for specific patient populations from the very beginning, with the aim of delivering disease modifying agents for diseases of high unmet need."

Sharp Edge Labs focuses on inherited diseases involving defects in protein trafficking, one of the most common cellular defects in genetic disorders.

The company has a cellular imaging platform that it uses to screen for drugs that can restore proper trafficking, and has internal programs in Cystic Fibrosis, an inherited form of Parkinson’s Disease and Frontotemporal Dementia.

ORIG3N is transforming the future of medicine by building LifeCapsule — the world’s largest biorepository of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from crowd sourced blood samples.

ORIG3N is using Nobel Prize-winning technology to reprogram each blood sample into iPSCs, which are then used to grow different cell types including neurons, heart cells and liver cells. These cells offer a powerful tool for accurate disease modeling and drug discovery research.

"A patient’s own cells are the best model for understanding how a disease manifests and how it responds to a drug," said Robin Y. Smith, CEO of ORIG3N.

"Using iPSC technology accelerates the pace of drug development and is helping us move closer to being able to provide the right drug to the right patient and avoid the trial and error approach that often happens today."