US-based biotechnology company Atavistik Bio has entered a research collaboration with pharmaceutical firm Pfizer to discover novel precision allosteric therapeutics.
Under the collaboration, Atavistik Bio will use its in-house AMPS platform to identify novel allosteric binders against two undisclosed, targets selected by Pfizer.
After the research period, Pfizer can choose to license the programmes emerging from the collaboration.
Atavistik Bio CEO Bryan Stuart said: “We’re excited to collaborate with Pfizer to harness the tremendous promise of allostery to advance the opportunity for therapeutic innovations for patients in need.
“Our internal pipeline has been enabled by our ability to identify novel, functional allosteric binding pockets that allow us to rapidly progress novel chemical matter.
“We look forward to applying the efficiency and productivity of our platform to our collaboration with Pfizer as we simultaneously advance our internal pipeline of precision oncology small molecule therapies.”
Atavistik Bio is focused on advancing the discovery and development of precision allosteric therapeutics in the field of oncology, inspired by the body’s natural regulators.
The company said that allostery plays a key role in targeting disease-causing proteins and delivering highly selective, better tolerated, and more effective therapies.
Its AMPS platform is an integrated discovery engine that combines computational and experimental techniques to unlock functional cryptic pockets across different target classes.
The platform uses insights from Atavistik’s novel allosteric chemical starting points to support the design of the small molecules against historically challenging targets.
Furthermore, the company’s selective allosteric AKT1 E17K inhibitor ATV-1601 would enter clinical development for treating solid tumours in early 2025.
