Discovery made at Gulbenkian Institute of Molecular Medicine
A discovery made at the GIMM Foundation (Gulbenkian Institute of Molecular Medicine) “is at the heart of an international agreement” with pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim that could revolutionize the oral treatment of certain types of cancer, the institution has announced.
In this context, precision oncology startup Tessellate Bio has signed a global licensing agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim to develop innovative oral therapies.
The global licensing agreement between Tessellate Bio – headquartered in Naarden (Netherlands) and with research and development laboratories in Stevenage (United Kingdom) – and pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim includes funding for research, licensing and payments for milestones achieved, according to GIMM – Gulbenkian Institute for Molecular.
In global terms, “it could exceed €500 million” and involves “developing innovative oral therapies aimed at ALT-positive cancers — an aggressive type of tumor that affects up to 15% of cancer patients and for which there are few treatment options”.
In 2019, the team of Claus Azzalin, principal investigator at the GIMM Foundation and co-founder of the startup Tessellate Bio, published a discovery in the journal Nature Communications: “the FANCM enzyme is essential for the survival of cancer cells that use the ALT (alternative lengthening of telomeres) mechanism”.
Now, “this unexpected vulnerability has paved the way for a completely new therapeutic approach, protected by patent before publication”, says GIMM.
“It all started with a simple question: how do telomeres behave in cancer cells? We weren’t looking for a drug — we were trying to understand how the ends of chromosomes work,” says Claus Azzalin, quoted in the paper.
“But that’s what makes science so powerful: understanding the basics can lead to discoveries with real impact,” he adds.
Founded in June 2020, following capital raising efforts from investment funds specializing in the scientific discovery phase, Tessellate Bio licensed the intellectual property jointly established based on discoveries from the laboratories of Claus Azzalin and Hilda Pickett and Roger Reddell, from the Children’s Medical Research Institute, in Australia, says GIMM.
Tessellate Bio is a preclinical biotechnology startup focused on novel approaches to synthetic lethality.
“With the support of top European investors, the company is developing a synthetic lethality approach that eliminates only ALT tumor cells — sparing healthy cells,” says the entity.
“This is how true innovation begins — with deep scientific curiosity,” says GIMM’s CEO Maria Manuel Mota. “At GIMM, we believe that discovery is the basis of innovation. This story shows how science done in Europe, when given room to take risks, can really change lives.”
source: LUSA
