A powerful platform
Advances in our knowledge of disease biology has created a better understanding of the targets and pathways that play a key role in disease initiation and progression. However, many of these targets and pathways cannot be readily addressed using current drug discovery methods and there remains an urgent need for newer, more sophisticated drug discovery approaches.
Curve’s gene-encoded Microcycle platform enables the enrichment of diverse libraries on the basis of their biological function inside a mammalian cell which facilitates the discovery of biologically active molecules that can address challenging and complex targets.
Current gene-encoded drug discovery approaches fall short of Pharma’s needs
Existing macrocyclic peptide display and DNA encoded libraries can only identify hits based on their strength of binding (affinity) to a purified and immobilised target in biochemical buffer. Rarely do these binders have biological function and the large peptides that are identified with these technologies cannot be readily optimised to make orally active small molecule drugs making them poorly suited to intracellular disease targets.
An evolving platform
Curve’s droplet microfluidic system is the next generation of the Microcycle platform that comprises high efficiency functional screening of a Microcycle library within a single femtolitre liquid droplet. This technology is protected by international patents and patent applications.
This microfluidics platform is being further developed to allow co-encapsulation of mammalian cells with a Microcycle® library within these droplets, enabling the discovery of functional hits against membrane proteins in their native conformation. The system is being further developed to screen for functional hits against non-protein targets such as RNA.
A platform built on strong foundations
IP protected
Curve’s proprietary platform is built on pioneering research by the Tavassoli lab and described in more than 30 peer-reviewed publications covering a wide range of protein-protein interactions over a 15-year period. The central components of the Microcycle screening platform are protected through international patents and patent applications and exclusively licensed to Curve.
Promising evolution
Curve’s platform has multiple applications beyond our in-house pipeline and there are clear opportunities for collaborative research and development with partners that have a depth of knowledge in target biology and expertise in drug development.
Pipeline
First in-class therapeutics
Curve is deploying its proprietary platform to build a pipeline of first-in-class small molecule drugs, initially against high-priority cancer targets, with the potential to transform the treatment of multiple solid and haematological tumours.
Publications
Curve originated from world-leading Microcycle® research conducted by Professor Tavassoli’s academic group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Southampton, UK.
Vision
Our vision is to transform the lives of patients by addressing complex and challenging disease targets that are intractable to conventional discovery methods.
