ProFound Therapeutics has teamed up with Pfizer to develop obesity treatments. Under the terms of the collaboration, ProFound Therapeutics will deploy its ProFoundry Platform to discover novel proteins and evaluate their therapeutic potential in the treatment of obesity. After early validation conducted by ProFound Therapeutics, Pfizer will have the option to advance selected research programs into development.
“With obesity expected to impact 1.9 billion people globally by 2035, it is critical to continue breakthrough discovery research that may lead to new, first-in-class therapies that help address current gaps in care,” said Charlotte Allerton, Head of Discovery and Early Development at Pfizer.
Flagship Pioneering's role in the partnership
ProFound Therapeutics was founded in 2020 by Flagship Pioneering, a biotechnology company that invents new bioplatforms and creates companies around them. To date, Flagship Pioneering has launched over 100 new ventures.
Flagship Pioneering has an ongoing partnership with Pfizer since July 2023. The new collaboration between ProFound Therapeutics and Pfizer is the first exploration agreement started under that partnership.
As part of the agreement, ProFound Therapeutics will work together with Flagship Pioneering’s in-house drug development division, called Pioneering Medicines, to identify novel proteins and conduct early validation of the therapeutic potential of any drug candidates or drug targets identified using their protein discovery platform.
Discovering novel proteins for obesity treatment
ProFound Therapeutics focuses on discovering first-in-class treatments across all therapeutic areas by studying the “proteomic dark matter,” which refers to the collection of all peptides and proteins that have so far gone unnoticed in the human proteome.
The company has created an atlas containing tens of thousands of novel protein sequences. Using state-of-the-art protein detection technology, advanced computation methods, and targeted functional screening, the ProFound Platform has started to reveal previously unknown proteins, including potential drugs and drug targets.
“Through our ProFoundry Platform, we have discovered and validated an extensive library of novel proteins that unlock a new universe of possibilities for treating many different diseases,” said John Lepore, CEO of ProFound Therapeutics and CEO-Partner of Flagship Pioneering.
“We are thrilled to be part of the Flagship and Pfizer partnership and to collaborate with Pioneering Medicines to discover and validate novel proteins that have the potential to lead to innovative, first-in-class medicines for patients with obesity.”