Peteros and BI ink protein analysis agreement

MARTINSRIED, Germany—Proteros Biostructures GmbH recently entered into a research collaboration with Ridgefield, Conn.-based Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals in the field of protein crystallography, in an 18-month agreement under which Proteros will receive research funding fees and milestone payments for the generation and analyses of protein-ligand-structures of hits and evolved chemical entities from in-house Boehringer Ingelheim programs.

Financial details were not being released, but the companies note that Proteros will apply its proprietary Free Mounting System and Picodropper technologies to maximize data quality and success rates, thus allowing rapid evolution of multiple hit series at Boehringer Ingelheim.

The Picodropper technology is valuable to BI's work because it is designed to improve the success rates of protein-ligand-complex structure analysis, particularly to produce co-crystals with ligands of poor solubility or low affinity which cannot otherwise be obtained by traditional methods such as soaking methods or co-crystallization, says Dr. Torsten Neuefeind, CEO of Proteros.

The Free Mounting System was created to enable crystallographers to optimize diffraction patterns of macromolecular crystals and thus gain dramatically improved diffraction patterns and structural data.

This isn't the first time Proteros and BI have worked together, Neuefeind notes, but it does represent an important step forward for Proteros, as Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals is the largest U.S. subsidiary of Germany-based Boehringer Ingelheim Corp.

"This collaboration underscores Proteros' expertise in the field of protein crystallography, and furthermore marks an important milestone in Proteros' progress to further expand its client base in North America," Neuefeind says. "We are pleased to extend the scope of our long-standing relationship with various sites of Boehringer Ingelheim. By taking advantage of Proteros' experience and the industrialized processes enabling time- and cost-efficient protein-ligand-structure analyses, Boehringer Ingelheim complements its internal capabilities with our external expertise and access flexible resources."