Dalriada Drug Discovery Celebrates Client Dunad Therapeutics Billion Dollar Collaboration with Novartis

Dalriada has worked with Dunad since its inception to support the development of its novel small molecule protein degradation modality

TORONTO, Nov. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Dalriada is pleased to congratulate Dunad Therapeutics on its strategic collaboration and license agreement with Novartis potentially worth $1.35 billion, to generate orally bioavailable covalent and protein degrading small molecule drugs. This leading-edge technology has the potential to deliver next-generation therapeutics with advantages over traditional drugs against a wide range of diseases by unlocking access to disease-causing and often undruggable targets.

Since its inception Dunad's R&D has been supported by Dalriada, a contract research organization to enable the development of their novel therapeutic modality that uses mono-valent small molecules to induce selective degradation of proteins via direct modification of the target.

"We are very pleased to see the impact and application of Dunad's technology amplified through the collaboration with Novartis," says Dr. Charlie Younger, Chief Operating Officer, Dalriada. "It takes an agile and innovative team to advance a novel therapeutic modality. We've had the privilege of supporting Dunad to rapidly scale and further validate their platform technology, and to continue supporting the quick advancement of their pipeline."

Dunad's unique platform offers a target-class agnostic mechanism of action that is clearly differentiated from other targeted protein degradation technologies. As part of their Turn-key^TM model, Dalriada has been providing integrated drug discovery support for Dunad across medicinal chemistry, biophysics, cell and molecular biology and proteomics.

"Dalriada has provided the perfect model to support a rapidly growing company like Dunad. To scale up at the pace we have, proactive communication and quick turn-around times from resource deployment to the design-make-test-analyse cycles are critical," says Dr. Graham Simpson, Senior Vice President Drug Discovery, Dunad. "Dalriada has consistently invested in the science and focused on meeting our objectives. Their team has become a most trusted partner for Dunad."

"We consider the unique science and needs of each of our partners to create a highly tailored approach that includes everything from custom assays to full program design," says Jeff O'Meara, Vice President Drug Discovery, Dalriada. "It's great to see that our team's focus on the fastest possible turn-around times in the design-make-test-analyse cycle is achieving significant outcomes for our clients."

"Drug discovery and the biotech industry are in a very exciting, disruptive period. As we shift towards novel therapeutic modalities, we are paving the way to better treat complex diseases and modulate previously inaccessible targets," adds Younger. "Unchartered territory requires a new way of thinking that isn't one size fits all. Dalriada understands that to break new ground in the evolving drug discovery space, biotech companies need tailored, comprehensive support right from the start to most rapidly and effectively advance their technologies and pipelines."

Dalriada is not a traditional CRO:

Dalriada is a leading Canadian contract research organization specialized in small molecule therapies. Purposely built as an agile, co-located and uniquely integrated drug discovery partner, Dalriada accelerates the discovery and development journey of high value new small molecule therapeutics from concept to IND. Our partners have access to and support from a team of more than 60 drug discovery scientists (>70% PhD) specialized across all aspects of medicinal & computational chemistry, cell & molecular biology, biophysics & biochemistry, ADME and proteomics. Our unique Turn-Key^TM operational model offers the global biotechnology industry a full suite of drug discovery, preclinical development, intellectual property, and business expertise to manage and execute tailored R&D programs. To date Dalriada has supported integrated programs of public and venture capital-backed companies, including Antibe, Janpix, Canopy Growth and Dunad Therapeutics. Learn more: www.dalriadatx.com

SOURCE Dalriada Drug Discovery