Synthon Chiragenics reaps benefits from collaboration
US-based drug discovery company Synthon Chiragenics Corporation, of Monmouth Junction, New Jersey, has signed an agreement with The Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston to research potential antibacterial candidates to treat highly resistant germs. The collaboration involves preliminary screening of hundreds of antibacterial candidates, which are being developed using one of Synthon's proprietary chemical technologies.
The patented technology uses a class of molecular compounds called oxazolidinones, which have shown tremendous activity against highly resistant bacteria. Oxazolidinones are the basic compounds used in a number of therapeutic agents including antibiotics, antidepressants and antihypertensives. Using the new technology, Synthon is now able to create many different and novel variations of oxazolidinone compounds.
The research is being directed by Dr Ying Wang, assistant professor of medicine, Harvard Medical School, and associate chemist, department of medicine, The Brigham and Women's Hospital.
'This partnership is a major step towards bringing Synthon's antibacterial candidates through the development pipeline and eventually to market,' said Scott E. Coleridge, Synthon's president and ceo.
The company has also announced that it is to continue its research and development collaboration with Michigan State University (MSU) under a new, expanded four-year partnership deal. Synthon will receive exclusive worldwide rights to specific carbohydrate-based chemical technologies developed by Dr Rawle Hollingsworth, which will drive the company's new drug discovery program. Synthon will provide US$1.1m (€1.25m) to support Hollingsworth's research, plus royalties.
Synthon's new drug discovery platform is based on the burgeoning field of glycobiology – the study of carbohydrate activity in the body. Of particular interest is how carbohydrate-based technologies apply to the fast-growing fields of genomic-based therapeutics and proteomics.
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