BioLeap, a developer of drug discovery technology, is sharing its molecule building technology in a research collaboration with Tokyo-based Kyorin Pharmaceuticals.
BioLeap’s technology takes a different approach to traditional drug development by making the process more flexible. It involves calculating how small branches of molecules will bind to a targeted protein, for example. Chemists use that information to assemble building blocks of new molecules.
The Pennington, New Jersey company’s software overcomes one of the biggest challenges in drug discovery — the limitations of patentable leads for biological targets, according to a press statement. It is designed to speed up drug discovery and reduce costs.
The company was started in 2004 and raised $5 million in a series A financing round led by Quaker Partners and Adams Capital Management in 2010. It has signed collaborative agreements with companies such as GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) and the Southern Research Institute, and with DuPont (NYSE:DD) and Syngenta (NYSE:SYT) for agricultural applications of its technology.
