Oxford, UK - October 2007
European Union supports €3M Project to develop technology against a major therapeutically relevant enzyme family
Under the EU Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) for Research and Development 3.2 million Euros have been awarded to the DeZnIT research project.
The main objectives of the DeZnIT program are to develop new drug design technology specifically focused on the family of zinc metalloenzymes and
to use this technology to identify new candidate drugs. DeZnIT is a highly integrated, pan-European, research project conducted by a consortium
of seven partners involving leading experts in computer-aided design, synthetic and medicinal chemistry, structural biology and the molecular biology
of these enzymes. The project is coordinated by InhibOx, a biotechnology company based in Oxford, UK.
Zinc is a biologically ubiquitous element and is known to be indispensable for growth and development.
It is present, and essential, in at least one enzyme of each of the six classes established by the International Union of Biochemistry.
DeZnIT will focus on therapeutically important zinc-containing enzymes such as carbonic anhydrases, histone deacetylases and ADAM/MMP.
Drug design against zinc enzymes is challenging because of specific problems associated with interacting with the metal atom.
By combining new theoretical and computational approaches to drug design with world-leading expertise in the biology of these enzymes and the synthesis of inhibitors,
DeZnIT aims to make a major contribution to our understanding of these enzymes and enhance our ability to design potential candidate drugs.
The DeZnIT consortium
Four research groups and three SME companies join forces in the DeZnIT consortium. Each group contributes specific expertise that is required for this project.
1. InhibOx Ltd, Dr. Paul W. Finn (Co-ordinator), UK
2. TopoTarget A/S, Dr. James Ritchie, Denmark
3. Key Drug Prototyping, Dr. Flip Hoedemaeker, The Netherlands
4. Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis, Dr. Peteris Trapencieris, Latvia
5. University of Tampere, Professor Seppo Parkkila, Finland
6. University of Florence, Professor Andrea Scozzafava, Italy
7. University of Oxford, Professor W. Graham Richards, UK
Oxford, UK - 30th October 2006
InhibOx - Surface Therapeutics collaboration
Surface Therapeutics Limited has selected InhibOx to be its computational drug discovery partner.
Surface Therapeutics is an Oxford based biotechnology company that specialises in allergic inflammatory conditions.
The two companies have agreed a 3 month programme of work, under which InhibOx will provide Surface Therapeutics with
computational chemistry and virtual screening services relating to an undisclosed target.
Oxford, UK - 30th September 2006
NFCR collaboration enters new phase
InhibOx and the NFCR are pleased to announce that the cancer screensaver project has entered a new phase.
The cancer screensaver project was a public interest endeavour that was started by the NFCR in 2001.
The project uses the idle time of over 3.5 million computers to computationally screen a large database of molecular structures
against 12 cancer targets. InhibOx has donated all of its right to the results of the project back to the NFCR.
As the priority for further processing, NFCR has provided additional research funding to support collaborative projects between
Oxford University and InhibOx to analyze available data related to two of the twelve original cancer targets - CDK2 and FGF.
The objective of these collaborations is to identify, with the technical assistance of InhibOx, a subset of several hundred molecules
for further experimental testing. It is hoped that this work can be completed by the end of the first quarter of this year,
enabling NFCR to start chemical synthesis and biological tests on these selected molecules for developing anticancer drug candidates.
This is a significant milestone for the screensaver-lifesaver project.
Oxford, UK - 17th September 2006
InhibOx sponsors Quantum pharmacology conference
InhibOx is delighted to sponsor the Molecular Graphics and Modelling Society’s September conference, entitled Quantum Pharmacology. The conference is held in honour of Professor Graham Richards.
The term, "Computer-aided molecular design" was first used by the group of Professor Graham Richards at Oxford.
In the UK Graham, for almost 40 years, has been the leading academic pioneer in this field, and his work has had a huge impact
not only in academia, but especially in the pharmaceutical industry. The impressive list of speakers will include not only ex-members
of Graham's group but also other well known world leaders in the field.
Oxford, UK - 15th July 2006
TopoTarget expands InhibOx relationship
InhibOx has provided sophisticated computational chemistry services to TopoTarget since 2004 and today, the two companies have agreed a significant expansion to the scope
of InhibOx’s work. Dr Paul Finn, CEO of InhibOx commented, “There is a very close relationship between the two companies and this expansion in our collaboration
is a real endorsement of the success of our partnership.
Oxford, UK - 12th July 2006
InhibOx wins DTI grant for R&D
InhibOx is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a DTI grant for research and development.
The grant is focussed on the development of novel drug discovery software based on pattern recognition techniques and algorithms.
The grant is intended to cover an 18 month long period of research.
Oxford, UK - 22nd May 2006
InhibOx - PheneX collaboration
InhibOx is delighted to announce that it has entered into a research collaboration with PheneX Pharmaceuticals AG.
PheneX Phamaceuticals is a German biotechnology company and a world leader in the nuclear receptor target class.
Under the terms of the collaboration, PheneX and InhibOx will work together to generate leads against an undisclosed nuclear receptor over a 6 month period.
Oxford, UK - 25th January 2006
InhibOx enters research contract with the University of Oxford Computing Department
InhibOx is pleased to announce that is has entered into a research contract with the University of Oxford. The research contract, which is long term,
has been placed with the University of Oxford's computing laboratory under the supervision of Dr Stephen Cameron. Commenting on today's announcement,
Dr Paul Finn, Chief executive of InhibOx said "we are delighted to further cement our relationship with the University of Oxford. The Oxford Computing laboratory
has a pre-eminent reputation and we are particularly pleased to be working with Dr Cameron who has been incredibly supportive of our research focus".
Oxford, UK - 6th January 2006
TopoTarget and InhibOx extend collaboration - TACE programme
TopoTarget A/S (CSE:TOPO), the biopharmaceutical company focused on oncology and InhibOx are pleased to announce
that they have agreed an extension to their existing collaboration. InhibOx will use its computational discovery platform to identify
novel inhibitors of TACE (human tumour necrosis alpha converting enzyme), an inflammation target and TopoTarget will provide
the validation of these inhibitors using its proprietary biology expertise. Commenting on today's announcement Dr Paul Finn,
Chief Executive of InhibOx said "This is a great endorsement for InhibOx. The TACE target is extremely promising and although
the programme is at an early stage, the marriage of InhibOx's computational discovery abilities and TopoTarget's understanding of
the target's biology is a convincing way to proceed".
