The two companies have entered into a new strategic research collaboration and license agreement.
In the last two years, the companies have collaborated on numerous Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA) projects and produced several publications. This new collaboration will allow for the further development of the CETSA method and expansion of its use within pre-clinical discovery at AstraZeneca, with a focus on its application in screening, safety assessment and translational sciences.
“We believe that CETSA has the ability to transform the early research process and to cut drug discovery timelines significantly,” says Michael Dabrowski, CEO of Pelago Bioscience.
“CETSA is an exciting technology that will allow us to examine the interaction between a drug candidate and its protein target within the cell. We are pleased to be exploring the potential of this platform in an open collaboration with the scientists at Pelago,” said Steve Rees, Vice President Discovery Biology at AstraZeneca.
The Cellular Thermal Shift Assay (CETSA) developed by Pelago Bioscience enables the direct detection of compound binding to the drug target within cells and can identify compounds that directly bind to the human Androgen Receptor. It is also capable of differentiating such direct binders from co-regulator inhibitors that other cellular assays measuring functional responses cannot.
