Drug Discovery
Zacharon’s Discovery Team uses our proprietary cell-based high-throughput discovery platform to discover new drugs.
Zacharon's discovery team employs our proprietary high throughput screening system to identify small molecule glycan targeted drugs. Glycans are fundamentally different from typical drug targets so the standard drug discovery systems have not been successful. Zacharon's high throughput screening system was specifically designed for glycans and enables Zacharon to find glycan targeted drugs that were previously inaccessible to the pharmaceutical industry.
Zacharon is the first company to apply small molecule high throughput screening to discovering glycan targeted drugs.
Zacharon's discovery system uses live cells in an automated procedure to simultaneously screen multiple drug candidates. In the present configuration, 100,000 assays per week are run. Zacharon's scientists and advisors have identified four glycan classes that we are targeting. By screening multiple targets, multiple classes of inhibitors are discovered that may lead to potent drug candidates in different areas of oncology as well as other diseases; a pipeline of candidate compounds. Subsequent testing in vitro and later in animals prioritizes the candidates for further development. Thus, Zacharon is not relying on a single compound or a single target but gives priority to the candidates from the pipeline that have the best efficacy and safety profiles.
Glycans provide a biomarker for drug activity
An attractive feature of targeting glycans is that the target glycan serves as a biomarker for drug activity. By using our novel methods to analyze the target glycan in drug treated cells, the mechanism of action can be determined. Similarly, using our novel methods, we can analyze the target glycan in blood or tissue samples from drug treated animals as well as from humans to help assess efficacy in preclinical studies and early stage clinical studies.
Zacharon's discovery platform provides opportunities for licensing at different
stages of development
Many applications exist in the pharmaceutical industry for glycan targeted drugs. Zacharon's discovery platform screens a wide range of glycan targets and drug candidates, some of which Zacharon intends to take through early clinical studies in house. In other cases, Zacharon's platform can be used to discover or classify compounds that can be licensed out at earlier stages. Thus, Zacharon is interested in partnering and/or licensing agreements at various stages of development.
