Eli Lilly, Novartis back a biotech startup boasting 'best of both worlds' protein degraders
Since heading up GlaxoSmithKline’s protein degradation unit in 2012, Ian Churcher has witnessed a rapid explosion of interest in the idea of leveraging the body’s garbage disposal system to eliminate problematic proteins. Huge amounts of money are flowing in from biotech VCs and Big Pharma players, bankrolling a huge volume of projects — some of which have now made it to the clinic.
“What I would say hasn’t changed is the focus is still very much on a small number of mechanisms, around say VHL and cereblon, and we knew about these mechanisms very early,” he told Endpoints News. “So I think what that suggests is it’s really quite difficult to identify novel mechanisms.”
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