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news.Sosei Group's subsidiary Heptares Therapeutics has agreed to acquire Swiss drugmaker G7 Therapeutics for CHF12m ($11.8m).
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The acquisition is expected to expand the UK based Heptares’ intellectual assets and platform for structure-based drug design and development centred on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).
Considered to be a superfamily of receptors, GPCRs have been linked to various human diseases.
The combined company will boost Heptares’ R&D productivity by generating more stabilized GPCRs and GPCR structures that can underpin drug-discovery efforts for its own pipeline and for collaboration partners.
Sosei CEO Peter Bains said: “Approximately 30 percent of approved medicines in pharmaceutical company portfolios today act by modulating GPCR activity, making GPCRs one of, if not the most important target families for drug discovery and a major pillar upon which the global industry has been built.
“Heptares has already established a world-leading position in this area, building a diverse pipeline of proprietary candidates as well as attracting major pharma company partners.”
Heptares said G7’s SaBRE and CHESS approaches for stabilizing GPCRs will complement its StaR platform, adding that the approaches have proved especially useful where the target GPCR is present in very low numbers on cells.
G7 Therapeutics CEO Carlo Bertozzi said: “Heptares has an impressive track record of technology development resulting in a world-leading platform that has generated multiple product opportunities targeting many GPCR targets across diverse disease areas.”
Following the acquisition, G7 Therapeutics will be renamed as Heptares Zurich, as a wholly owned Heptares’ subsidiary based in Zurich.
Sosei and Heptares chief scientific officer Fiona Marshall will lead the new Heptares subsidiary.
Marshall said the acquisition will expand Heptares’ capability in exploring ‘GPCRome’ further, resulting in novel candidates against targeted GPCRs for both the company’s pipeline as well as partnered programmes.
In October, Heptares along with another Sosei subsidiary Jitsubo entered into collaboration to develop peptide candidates to target GPCR responsible for causing severe gastro-intestinal disorders.