Sosei Heptares and Kallyope Nominate First GPCR Target for Therapeutic Development in Gastrointestinal Diseases
Tokyo, Japan, Cambridge, UK and New York, USA – 10 November 2023 – Sosei Group Corporation (“Sosei Heptares”; TSE: 4565), the international biopharmaceutical company, and Kallyope, a clinical stage biotechnology company discovering and developing novel, oral small-molecule therapeutics for diseases with high unmet need, today announced the successful identification, validation and nomination of a first G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) target to enter a therapeutic discovery program for gastrointestinal diseases.
This is the first scientific milestone stemming from the strategic drug discovery collaboration between the two companies announced in 2022. The collaboration aims to leverage Sosei Heptares’ GPCR Diversified Compound Library and GPCR expertise and the innovative Kallyope Klarity™ platform, which combines single-cell sequencing, circuit mapping, computational biology and enteroid phenotypic screening. The collaborating teams at Sosei Heptares and Kallyope intend to progress the nominated target into a fully supported structure-based drug discovery program as well as continuing to identify additional gastrointestinal targets for future programs.
Matt Barnes, President of Heptares Therapeutics and Head of UK R&D, commented: “This first important milestone with Kallyope has been rapidly achieved through the combination of our respective world-leading technologies, expertise and focus on discovering novel therapeutics targeting unmet needs in gastrointestinal diseases. It is exciting to see tangible outputs from our Target Identification and Validation strategy across our portfolio of collaborations with innovative companies, like Kallyope. Advancing novel programs like this into the drug discovery phase is important to enrich our early pipeline and provides opportunities for developing future medicines to address unmet medical need.”
“This achievement further confirms the effectiveness of Kallyope’s unique target discovery platform and scientific expertise, and the value of collaboration with the GPCR platform and expertise of Sosei Heptares,” said Jay Galeota, President and CEO, Kallyope. “Our Klarity platform’s broad set of integrated technologies and insights allows us to understand communication between the gut, brain and other organs in a fundamentally new way that, together with the leading compound library and structural biology capabilities that Sosei Heptares has built, can lead to the development of therapeutic interventions that represent important steps forward in treating gastrointestinal diseases, reducing suffering and improving human health.”
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About Kallyope
Kallyope, a clinical stage biotechnology company, is leveraging its proprietary Klarity™ therapeutic platform to discover and develop novel, oral small-molecule therapeutics in areas with high unmet medical need, including diabetes and obesity, gastrointestinal disease, and neurological disorders.
About Sosei Heptares
Sosei Heptares is a fully integrated biopharmaceutical company focused on bringing life-changing medicines based on world-class science to patients globally. Our vision is to become one of Japan’s global biopharmaceutical champions.
Our global business combines our world-leading GPCR-targeted StaR® technology, structure-based drug design and early development capabilities in the UK with a highly experienced clinical development capability and a commercial operation in Japan.
We are leveraging these capabilities to generate and advance a broad and deep pipeline of novel medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including neurology, immunology, gastroenterology and inflammatory diseases. We intend to develop these opportunities for patients in Japan and globally both internally and through our partnerships with global biopharmaceutical companies and emerging technology companies.
Sosei Heptares operates from key locations in Tokyo and Osaka (Japan), London and Cambridge (UK), Basel (Switzerland) and Seoul (South Korea).
“Sosei Heptares” is the corporate brand and trademark of Sosei Group Corporation, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (ticker: 4565). Sosei, Heptares, the logo and StaR® are trademarks of Sosei Group companies.
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Sosei Heptares – Media and Investor Relations
Kentaro Tahara, VP Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy
Shinichiro Nishishita, VP Investor Relations, Head of Regulatory Disclosures
Maya Bennison, Communications Manager
+81 (0)3 5210 3399 | +44 (0)1223 949390 |
MEDiSTRAVA Consulting (for International Media)
Mark Swallow, Frazer Hall, Erica Hollingsworth
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Kallyope
Anita Kawatra, EVP, Corporate Affairs
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