Massachusetts, US-based drug developer, Morphic Therapeutic was co-founded in 2015 by Schrödinger along with Harvard academian and Polaris Partners investment firm and has since then been working on Schrödinger’s drug discovery platform to develop oral small molecule integrin-targeted therapeutics.
To date, the collaboration has led to the discovery of potential treatments for indications including fibrosis, Crohn’s disease and inflammatory bowel disease, with some of those investigational drugs having moved to preclinical stage.
The collaboration was prolonged in May 2019 for a second time since 2015, with Schrödinger securing further research funding as well as milestone payments and licensing royalties on candidate compounds that emerge from the collaboration.
Morphic will submit an investigational new drug (IND) application in mid 2020 for oral inhibitor MRβ7, for the treatment of ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and eosinophilic esophagitis.
Additionally, the company plans to initiate clinical trials upon IND approval for MORF-720, an oral inhibitor indicated for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
Shi-Yi Liu, SVP of corporate communications for Schrödinger told us that the renewed agreement includes the possibility for the partners to work on more targets.
Schrödinger’s CEO, Ramy Farid said in a statement that the partners have seen ‘tremendous’ validation of the combination of Morphic’s insights into integrins and Schrödinger’s compound optimizing capabilities.
An estimation of the funding provided could not be disclosed.
Schrödinger’s operations were boosted after the closing of an $110m (€99m) financing round earlier this year.