H2020 finances new peptide-drug conjugates

Horizon 2020 is funding a European Training Network (ETN) project aimed at developing and validating an array of new peptide-drug conjugates combining tumour-specific peptides with potent cytotoxic drugs.

The MAGICBULLET ETN is receiving a total of €3.75m from the European Commission between 2015 and 2018 for the development of new chemistry-driven concepts for anti-tumour therapies. The project consists of seven academic research groups from Germany, Italy, Hungary and Finland, and two pharmaceutical companies, namely Heidelberg Pharma of Germany and Exiris of Italy. Heidelberg Pharma’s task is to identify, modify and validate tumour-specific peptide-drug conjugates based on its expertise in linker technology, as well as to investigate the biological activity in vitro and in vivo.

Speaking about Heidelberg’s participation, Dr Jan Schmidt-Brand, the company’s managing director and chief executive of Wilex AG, the owner of the pharmaceutical firm, said: “We are pleased that MAGICBULLET was selected for the Horizon 2020 programme, and we look forward to an intensive and fruitful collaboration with our MAGICBULLET partners. Peptide-drug conjugates are promising new concepts for the therapy of different tumour types.”

Anti-tumour drugs that are currently used are highly cytotoxic, and therapies are often associated with severe side effects. Chemical compounds that specifically recognise molecular structures selectively present on tumour cells would be advantageous to target the delivery of a drug to a tumour cell and specifically eliminate them. Peptide-drug conjugates can easily penetrate tissues, and can be simply prepared in a homogenous form and large quantity with straightforward and well-defined conjugation chemistry.