International Journal, Nature Biotechnology backs Phylomer® Technology
Perth Australia: 13 Feb 2006: Australian drug discovery company Phylogica (ASX:PYC) today announced that a scientific
paper reviewing its Phylomer® technology has been accepted by the internationally peer reviewed journal, Nature
Biotechnology and is now published in the current February issue.
Nature Biotechnology ranks first out of the 132 journals in the category of biotechnology and applied microbiology and
is among the top 20 scientific journals in the world according to the ISI citation journal reports.
Dr Paul Watt, author of the Nature Biotechnology article and Scientific Director of Phylogica said ”This publication of
the Phylomer® approach is a validation that our technology has been recognised by international opinion leaders in drug
discovery” .
Phylomers® represent a unique kind of small protein fragment, known as peptides, that have the potential to act as drugs
by blocking a disease process at the protein level. Phylogica's proprietary Phylomer® Libraries are collections of
millions of Phylomers® that represent a source of drug leads which can be used for multiple diseases.
Phylogica has already discovered a number of drug leads from this technology against stroke, burns and other
inflammatory diseases. Other companies are also looking to use Phylomer® libraries to validate their potential drug
targets.
In the paper Dr Watt explains why Phylogica’s technology represents a novel and cost-effective approach for identifying
drug candidates. “To find new Phylomer® drug candidates, we are searching the world’s most diverse library of protein
shapes which is derived from ancient bacteria, called archaebacteria, that have evolved over millions of years,” he
said.
“We have patented this technology and are ‘mining’ this biological resource intensively as it turns out to be very rich
in active peptide drug candidates,” he explained. “To our knowledge we are the first company to look at the importance
of the shape within such proteins as a source of drug leads, independent of their original function,“ according Dr Watt.
“Phylogica’s Drug Discovery program is progressing well,” said Dr Watt. The company has positive data from Phylomers
developed for stroke and burns treatments and is developing other Phylomer® candidates for inflammatory diseases such as
diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
“The properties of Phylomers®make them very attractive as cost-effective alternatives to antibodies a proven
multi-billion drug class,” he concluded. Phylomers® are small proteins that are simple to manufacture, easy to deliver
to patients and do not have any major royalty stacks.”
ENDS