News
Article
Author(s):
Superluminal partners with Eli Lilly to develop AI-driven small molecule therapies targeting GPCRs for obesity and cardiometabolic diseases, aiming for innovative treatments.
The partnership focuses on producing therapy options for undisclosed GPCR targets relevant to cardiometabolic diseases and obesity.
Stock.adobe.com
Superluminal Medicines announced its partnership with Eli Lilly and Company aiming to advance small molecule therapeutic options targeting undisclosed G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). The therapy options will be developed for the treatment of cardiometabolic diseases along with obesity, employing Superluminal’s AI and machine-learning integrated compound discovery platform.
"Our collaboration with Lilly is a defining moment for Superluminal, and a testament to the power of our platform to deliver high-quality development candidates against historically intractable GPCR targets," said Cony D'Cruz, CEO of Superluminal. "Together, we aim to develop next-generation medicines that address the urgent and growing global burden of cardiometabolic disease. We are very excited to be embarking on this collaboration just as we begin to advance our internal drug candidate targeting rare genetic forms of obesity and hypothalamic obesity, and we are committed to bringing safe, efficacious, novel treatments to patients affected by these challenging conditions."1
GCPR’s are proteins embedded in the membranes of cells using membrane receptors to communicate with one another while detecting environmental changes. GCPRs are the main target for Superluminal’s small molecule therapy solutions as it employs its advanced compound discovery platform.
The foundation of Superluminal is its platform. Built on expertise in structural biology, chemistry, and biology, the platform serves as a accelerate for Superluminal’s research and development process. The predict-design-test architecture of the platform allows precise protein shaping along with the engineering of highly selective compounds that target structural change with the aim to achieve therapeutic outcomes.
Superluminal curated its platform to integrate deep structural biology, machine learning, and proprietary pharmacokinetic and toxicology prediction tools aimed at accelerating the discovery of candidate-ready small molecules. Superluminal originally focused its platform goals on studying GPCRs and have continued to advance its research and development in targeting them. With a history of challenges, targeting GPCRs functional selectivity and complex structure requires advanced computational solutions, a key component to Superluminal’s platform.
Superluminal CEO Cony D’Cruz touched on Superluminal’s advancements in targeting GPCRs, saying, "GPCRs have established themselves as very important targets in the obesity and cardiometabolic landscape, but we're at the very early stages of exploration of the target class." 2
The terms of the agreement will have Superluminal developing and discovering effective small molecule therapeutics targeting undisclosed GPCR threats that are relevant to cardiometabolic diseases and obesity. The agreement grants Lilly the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize any therapy option produced during the collaboration that meet predefined criteria.
Superluminal is set to receive upwards of $1.3 billion, which includes the upfront and near-term payments, development and commercial milestones, an equity investment, tiered royalties, and net sales.
Lead with insight with the Pharmaceutical Executive newsletter, featuring strategic analysis, leadership trends, and market intelligence for biopharma decision-makers.
