Oblique Therapeutics AB

STOCKHOLM, Oct. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Oblique Therapeutics AB ("Oblique") announces that the company's research project on the NaV1.8 ion channel has reached an important milestone. After successfully completing the first stage of the project, where the Company's AbiProt technology is used to identify potential binding sites for therapeutic antibodies on the target protein, the project is now in the process of developing antibodies against NaV1.8. The ion chanel Nav 1.8 is a well established target of high importance in pain. In May, the company started a campaign to identify potential binding sites for antibodies using AbiProt, its proprietary discovery technology. This R&D effort has now been concluded and a number of potential binding sites have been identified. This is a crucial step in Oblique's mission to develop innovative therapeutics for patients with chronic pain. "In the scientific community there is a general agreement that TRPV1 and NaV 1.8 are the two most promising targets for new treatments against chronic pain. I'm therefore pleased that we have reached this important milestone in our NaV 1.8 project that was only started in the late spring this year. I'm convinced that our advanced TRPV1 program with two highly promising classes of molecules together with the NaV 1.8 project will position Oblique Therapeutics among the leaders in the pain field. Moreover, this achievement also represents further validation of our AbiProt technology", said Christer Nordstedt, CEO of Oblique Therapeutics. The goal of Oblique is to invent and develop drug candidates that are potent analgesics while avoiding addiction and unwanted side effects. The development of antibody candidates to NaV1.8 will be carried out in close collaboration with leading experts in the field. The company shall release more information about the project as the research initiative progresses further. For further information, please contact: Christer Nordstedt CEO, Oblique Therapeutics AB E-post: [email protected] About Oblique Therapeutics Oblique Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing antibody-based therapies to address major unmet medical need in chronic pain indications. The company strives to improve patients' quality of life through cutting-edge research and innovative solutions. Christer Nordstedt MD PhD CEO This information was brought to you by Cision The following files are available for download: WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM? 440k+ Newsrooms & Influencers 9k+ Digital Media Outlets 270k+ Journalists Opted In GET STARTED

Oblique said the partnership will generate milestones and royalties if successful. Image credit: Shutterstock/ Tada Images. Eli Lilly is strengthening its ties with Oblique Therapeutics, as the two companies announced an expansion to their collaboration agreement to include a second “high-value target”. Building on the existing agreement from November 2023, Eli Lilly will continue to use Oblique’s AbiProt platform to discover antibodies. Specifically, Sweden-based Oblique will partner with Lilly Catalyze360-ExploR&D, an arm of the company that offers clinical development capabilities for partnered biotechs and drug developers, as per a 22 August press release. The financial terms of the expanded deal were not disclosed, and neither was the target of its application. Oblique did state that if treatments are developed successfully, the partnership will “generate milestones and royalties”. Abiprot identifies therapeutic antibodies that can be programmed to have a specific pharmacological function. Oblique states its technology can help develop effective medicines against difficult-to-drug target proteins. The biotech’s platform uses microfluidics and proteases as molecular probes and provides sequence and structure information for epitope identification. Oblique itself says it focuses on pain projects in its internal portfolio. AbiProt has previously been used to discover and develop two antibodies targeting TRPV1 and KRAS for pain and cancer respectively, as per a research article published in Science Advances . See Also: FDA approves updated mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 Verve Therapeutics gets grant for gene editing compositions to lower ldl cholesterol levels Oblique’s CEO Christer Nordstedt said: “We are delighted to expand the collaboration between our companies and together create new science to address the unmet medical need in severe diseases. This collaboration with Lilly is of great importance to us and will further strengthen our position within the antibody discovery space.” This is not the only antibody discovery partnership Eli Lilly has tapped this year. The drugmaker expanded a partnership with AbCellera Biologics to discover therapeutic antibodies in immunology, cardiovascular disease and neuroscience programmes in August. The original agreement between the two companies has been fruitful, with eight programmes progressing as a result. Eli Lilly also acquired French biotech company Mablink to solidify its antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) framework. Mablink’s PSARLink technology disguises cancer-killing molecules, allowing them to be delivered precisely to cancer cells while sparing healthy cells.

Lilly first partnered with Oblique in November. Eli Lilly has expanded its partnership with Oblique Therapeutics, adding a second strand to an alliance focused on using the AbiProt platform to discover antibodies against high-value targets.Oblique uses AbiProt to identify therapeutic antibodies that bind to a target protein with high specificity and affinity and, in many cases, can also be programmed to have a particular pharmacological function. The platform combines microfluidics and proteases as molecular probes to find antibody-binding sites on native-state proteins. Oblique can aim the technology at soluble and membrane-bound proteins.The platform, which provides sequence and structure information for epitope identification, has shown promise when applied to a hard-to-drug pain target. A 2021 paper in Science Advances described the use of the platform to generate antibodies against the TRPV1 channel.Other companies have developed small molecule antagonists of TRPV1, only to see side effects put pay to plans to pursue signs of efficacy. In theory, antibodies could bind to other parts of the molecule and thereby block the pain mechanism without interfering with the heat sensor linked to the side effects. Oblique used the platform to find an antibody with that binding profile.    Later, the biotech hired Olof Larsson, Ph.D., as its chief scientific officer. Larsson’s earlier positions include a stint as Lilly’s CSO in pain and migraine and scientific site leader, neuroscience. The Big Pharma has kept working on pain as its peers have pulled back. Oblique’s platform is also applicable to other areas of interest to Lilly, including oncology, and neither party has disclosed the target or its application. Lilly first partnered with Oblique in November 2023. The latest agreement adds a second target to the pact. Oblique is partnering with Lilly Catalyze360-ExploR&D, a program that makes the drugmaker’s R&D skills available to biotechs, and could generate milestones and royalties. Oblique CEO Christer Nordstedt set out what the deal means to the company in a statement.“We are delighted to expand the collaboration between our companies and together create new science to address the unmet medical need in severe diseases,” Oblique CEO Christer Nordstedt said in an Aug. 22 release. “This collaboration with Lilly is of great importance to us and will further strengthen our position within the antibody discovery space.”