Ubiquigent announces an exclusive collaboration with UbiQ to commercialise novel reagents addressing a new frontier of integrated ubiquitylation and phosphorylation research central to Parkinson's Disease
Dundee, UK, 29 April 2015: Ubiquigent Limited, a company specialising in providing ubiquitin cell signalling system drug discovery assay services and reagents and UbiQ Bio BV, a company enabling drug discovery in the ubiquitin field with advanced reagents, announced today that they have entered into an exclusive collaboration agreement to develop and market novel reagents addressing a new frontier of research at the interface of ubiquitylation and phosphorylation cell signalling biology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ubiquigent will be the exclusive commercial provider of the reagents developed in the collaboration.
The targeting of proteins involved in phosphorylation signalling represents around 30% of all current drug discovery research. In their search for new target opportunities the industry recognises that the ubiquitylation system holds similar if not greater potential for addressing multiple therapeutic areas. Indeed a number of pharmaceutical and biotech companies are already pursuing drug discovery programmes targeting ubiquitin system proteins.
Building on Ubiquigent's existing collaboration with the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC PPU) at the University of Dundee, UK and in this case specifically with Dr Miratul Muqit, the utility of the new reagents developed under this collaboration have been demonstrated to enable a deeper understanding of the mechanism and new potential therapeutic approaches to Parkinson's Disease.
Beyond the applications in Parkinson's Disease research, these unique reagents will enable discoveries to be made across the interface of ubiquitylation and phosphorylation investigation, promising to open up new avenues both in respect of fundamental and applied therapeutic research.
Commenting on the agreement, Dr Jason Brown, Managing Director of Ubiquigent, said: “We are excited to be collaborating with UbiQ to bring these key reagents to the market in support of both Parkinson's Disease research and other areas of basic and drug discovery applied study across this frontier field of integrated phosphorylation and ubiquitylation research. Further we are delighted of the opportunity to collaborate with Dr Muqit's world leading group at the MRC PPU to demonstrate the utility of these new reagents towards a more advanced understanding of Parkinson's Disease biology.”
Alfred Nijkerk, CEO of UbiQ, added: “We are very pleased to be collaborating with Ubiquigent and Dr Muqit's lab, to launch these exciting new tools.”
About Ubiquigent (www.ubiquigent.com)
Ubiquigent Limited is a specialist provider of drug discovery assay development and compound profiling services, reagents and kits to the commercial and academic life science research community. Ubiquigent's focus is the ubiquitin signalling system and the company has established its scientific and business credentials both with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies pursuing ubiquitin system-focused drug discovery as well as academic researchers undertaking fundamental scientific discovery.
Ubiquigent benefits from high calibre backing including from the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) and the University of Dundee. The Company is located in a state-of-the-art facility adjacent to the MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (founded by Professor Sir Philip Cohen) at the University of Dundee.
Enquiries:
Dr Jason Brown, Managing Director
e: jason.brown@ubiquigent.com
t: +44 (0)1382 388292
Ubiquigent Ltd
Sir James Black Centre
Dow Street, Dundee
DD1 5EH, UK
About UbiQ Bio (www.ubiqbio.com)
UbiQ, a spinoff of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, specializes in ubiquitin related reagents, peptides and assays. UbiQ generated some of the first commercially available custom ubiquitinated peptides and now distributes a whole range of ubiquitin related reagents worldwide. In addition to enabling drug discovery in the rapidly expanding Ubiquitin field, UbiQ is also actively developing small molecule drugs that target the ubiquitin system. UbiQ is based on the Amsterdam Science Park, The Netherlands.
Enquiries:
Alfred Nijkerk, CEO
e: alfrednijkerk@ubiqbio.com
t: +31 203031970
UbiQ Bio BV
Science Park 408
1098 XH Amsterdam
The Netherlands