VIENNA—Delta 4, a biotech company using its digital drug discovery platform to identify new indications for approved drugs, announced on June 2 recent results achieved in two drug discovery and development programs. In its lead program, which aims at developing a therapy for focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a rare kidney disease affecting children and adults, Delta 4 concluded preclinical development with promising results. The company initiated patent filing and is currently preparing for clinical testing of selected drug candidates.

 

In recent years, Delta 4’s drug discovery platform was successfully applied in contract research for global pharma and biotechnology companies. The platform integrates in-silico drug discovery and big data analysis with extensive expertise in molecular biology and clinical development. Due to its unique technology, Delta 4 delivers not only drug candidates but also a mechanistic hypothesis about the underlying mode of action, significantly increasing their value for pharmaceutical development.

 

Delta 4 also announced that, in addition to FSGS, it recently applied its drug discovery platform to COVID-19 to identify existing drugs that may have benefits in this disease. The company is currently evaluating a short list of potential COVID-19 therapies pre-clinically and is considering partners to further develop its most promising COVID-19 drug candidates.

 

“Our proprietary drug discovery platform has demonstrated its capabilities in contract research for industrial customers. We are pleased that it now delivered high quality candidates in our in-house discovery and development programs.” said Kurt Herpel, CEO of Delta 4. “Our goal is to make a difference for FSGS patients, many of them children, for whom currently no adequate treatment is available. For this reason, we are committed to further explore the potential of our FSGS candidates in the clinic as fast as possible.”

 

 “Earlier this year we also applied our drug discovery platform to additional indications with urgent medical need, including COVID-19. After working on this disease for just eight weeks, we are now evaluating a short list of existing drugs that can be expected to be beneficial in the treatment of COVID-19,” he added. “Among the potential substances identified by our drug discovery platform were several compounds with well-known anti-viral properties such as nucleoside analogues that are now widely studied as anti-COVID-19 therapies. This makes us even more confident of the potential of the other candidates delivered by our drug discovery platform.”