Amphora Discovery announced today that CHDI, Inc., a non-profit
organization pursuing a biotech approach to rapidly discover and develop
drugs that prevent or slow Huntington Disease (HD) has signed multiple
agreements that provide access to Amphora Discovery's integrated contract
discovery services. HD is an inherited degenerative brain disease for which
there is currently no treatment to delay or prevent its onset. CHDI
partners with leading industrial and academic institutions to discover
novel therapies for HD and will utilize Amphora Discovery's services and
expertise in drug discovery to further this mission.
The agreements cover multiple biological targets implicated in HD and
include access to Amphora Discovery's PrecisionScreen(TM),
PrecisionSelect(TM) and Full Hit-to-Lead services. Utilizing its highly
precise and accurate PrecisionScreen(TM) technology, Amphora Discovery will
rapidly screen a large number of CHDI compounds against the implicated
proteins in parallel. The high quality of the PrecisionScreen(TM) data,
combined with the parallel screening of the targets, will enable the
primary data to be used for direct Structure Activity Relationship (SAR)
mining. This unique Amphora Discovery service avoids lengthy retest times
and will enable CHDI to rapidly select and prioritize the best chemical
series for further development. Amphora Discovery will then use its
powerful PrecisionSelect(TM) selectivity profiling platform to further
characterize the compounds of interest. Finally, CHDI and Amphora Discovery
will initiate a Full Hit-to-Lead program to rapidly structurally optimize
multiple chemical series against all the implicated targets in parallel.
"Amphora Discovery is a highly experienced drug discovery partner with
a validated process that delivers high quality data on reduced timelines.
CHDI's mission is to support projects that hold specific potential for
discovery and development of practical therapeutics ready for preclinical
testing within a three to five year timeframe. We believe that Amphora
Discovery's optimized drug discovery process provides us with the ability
to achieve this goal," said Dr. Robert Pacifici, Chief Scientific Adviser
to CHDI.
"We are very pleased that CHDI has selected Amphora Discovery as a
preferred partner. Amphora Discovery's PrecisionScreen(TM), PrecisionSelect(TM) and Full Hit-to-Lead services provide our customers with an integrated solution to drug discovery. Since our inception we have performed more than 100 high throughput screening campaigns and generated over 35 million data points with our validated technology platform. We look
forward to using our platform and expertise to assist CHDI in their fight
against HD," said Bill Janzen, Founder and Chief Technology Officer at
Amphora Discovery.
About Huntington Disease (HD)
HD is a familial disease, passed from parent to child through a
mutation in a gene. Each child of an HD parent has a 50-50 chance of
inheriting the HD gene which causes programmed degeneration of brain cells
and results in emotional disturbance, loss of intellectual faculties and
uncontrolled movements. Most people with HD develop the symptoms at midlife
but in some people onset occurs in infancy or old age. The average survival
time after onset is approximately fifteen to twenty years. It is estimated
that about one in every 10,000 persons has the HD gene. At this time, there
is no way to stop or reverse the course of HD.
About CHDI, Inc. and High Q Foundation
CHDI Inc. and the High Q Foundation, Inc. (High Q) are non-profit
organizations that share the mission of bringing together academia,
industry, governmental agencies, and other funding organizations in the
search for Huntington disease (HD) treatments.
CHDI, Inc. is pursuing a biotech approach to rapidly discover and
develop drugs that prevent or slow HD. Through collaborations with
industrial and academic partners, CHDI, Inc., participates in all aspects
of drug discovery and development from high throughput screening to
preclinical development. For more information about CHDI, Inc. and its
collaborative programs please see chdi-inc or contact Robert
Pacifici.
High Q supports HD research aimed at target identification and
validation, the development and use of animal models, drug delivery, and
the search for markers of disease progression. For more information about
High Q and its support of HD research please see highqfoundation).
About Amphora Discovery Corp
Amphora Discovery Corporation is a leading biotechnology company, with
two dedicated business units. The Amphora Pharma Business Unit is focused
on development and out-licensing of the company's broad selection of
high-value lead candidates. The Amphora Discovery Business Unit is a
leading provider of integrated contract services for the pharmaceutical
industry, employing cutting-edge chemogenomic, systems biology and
microfluidics technologies to deliver innovative and targeted lead
generation and lead optimization solutions.
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