Benzinga | Jan 25, 2022 07:35AM EST

Monte Rosa Therapeutics And Yeda Announce License And Research Collaboration To Accelerate Discovery Of Novel Covalent Molecular Glue Degraders

Monte Rosa Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:GLUE), a biotechnology company developing novel molecular glue degrader medicines, announced a license and research collaboration agreement with Dr. Nir London and the Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd., the commercial arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which aims to accelerate the discovery and development of novel covalent molecular glue degraders leveraging CoLDR (covalent ligand-directed release) technology.

Dr. London, a senior scientist from the Weizmann Institute and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Monte Rosa, is a world-renowned chemical biologist who applies computational and experimental methods to the design and discovery of novel compounds, with a focus on covalent mechanism of action. Dr. London and his team at the Weizmann Institute developed CoLDR technology, which uses covalent chemical inhibitors as a targeting system for selective cargo release (e.g. anti-cancer drugs and probes) or for site-specific labeling. This technology has the potential to be applied to the targeted protein degradation field, including the development of novel molecular glue degraders for cancer andother diseases.

"We are thrilled to partner with Dr. London and his team at the Weizmann Institute to utilize CoLDR technology to advance the field of targeted protein degradation through the identification of novel E3 ligases and covalent E3 ligase recruiters suitable for molecular glue degradation," said Sharon Townson, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer of Monte Rosa. "Through this research collaboration, we hope to not only expand the E3 ligase-target universe--we hope to further unlock therapeutically relevant proteins that were previously considered inadequately drugged by other small molecule approaches."

"We are incredibly excited to partner with the experienced team at Monte Rosa, who -- through the development of its QuEEN platform -- has demonstrated a detailed understanding of the molecular interactions promoted by its molecular glue degraders," said Dr. London. "By leveraging CoLDR technology, we hope to further expand upon the potential of QuEEN to identify potent, highly selective therapies for patients with few to no treatment options today."