ActiveSight Announces Availability Of Hsp90 3-D Structure Service
San Diego, CA — July 8, 2004. ActiveSight has introduced a new service aimed at accelerating Hsp90 drug discovery and development by rapidly solving 3-D X-ray crystallographic structures of client compounds bound in the Hsp90 active site. Human Hsp90, an important oncology target, is one of a class of proteins called chaperones, which function to facilitate the proper folding of other proteins. Many of the proteins Hsp90 helps to fold are themselves targets for anti-cancer drug development. Inhibition of Hsp90 disrupts the proper folding of these client proteins and thereby disrupts many of the pathways implicated in the growth of cancer.
"ActiveSight is pleased to be able to offer Hsp90 co-crystallization as a convenient and accessible service. This will allow companies which are already active in this promising area to accelerate their lead optimization programs and will also allow additional companies not yet active in Hsp90 to rapidly leverage compound collections developed against other targets," stated Ronald V. Swanson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of ActiveSight. Clients will be able to send their compounds to ActiveSight and will receive coordinates for the X-ray crystallographic structure of their compound bound to the active site of the Hsp90 ATP-binding domain. The information from the co-crystal structures reveals how the compounds interact with the protein and can be used to advance drug design programs.
"This is the first of many proteins we plan to introduce as part of our co-crystallization protein portfolio. These will include several clinically relevant kinases as well as cytochrome P450s, which are important in drug metabolism and in many undesirable drug-drug interactions," Duncan McRee, Ph.D., President of ActiveSight said. These services are aimed at allowing smaller companies to access the power of structure based drug design without building a large structural biology infrastructure, as well as expanding the capabilities of larger companies.
About ActiveSight
ActiveSight™, a structural biology company in San Diego, California, provides outsourcing solutions to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry. ActiveSight features the latest in crystallographic and protein engineering, including Rigaku and RoboDesign® automated crystallography equipment. ActiveSight is a division of Rigaku. Visit us at http://www.active-sight.com/.
For further information, contact:
Joy Silen, Director of Business Development
ActiveSight
4045 Sorrento Valley Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92121 USA
tel: (858) 455-6870
eMail: info@active-sight.com
www.active-sight.com