Astellas, Cullgen Enter Targeted Protein Degraders Partnership

Image Credit: Adobe Stock Images/Suliman Razman

Astellas, a pharmaceutical company, and Cullgen, a biopharma organization, have announced a strategic relationship focused on the discovery of multiple innovative protein degraders. Under terms of the deal, the organizations plan on combining Cullgen’s uSMITE targeted protein degradation platform with Astella’s drug discovery capabilities.

Provided an upfront payment of $35 million by Astellas, Cullgen will also have access to an additional $85 million upon Astellas’ exercise of the license option with respect to the lead program.

“Targeted Protein Degradation is one of the primary focuses of Astellas,” said Adam Pearson, chief strategy officer, Astellas. "We hope this collaboration will bring synergies between the two companies' cutting-edge research, and will ultimately lead to the expansion of Astellas’ portfolio and development of new therapeutics for patients with significant unmet medical needs.”

Reference: Astellas and Cullgen Enter into Strategic Collaboration and Option Agreement to Advance Innovative Targeted Protein Degraders. Astellas. June 15, 2023. Accessed June 22, 2023. https://www.astellas.com/en/news/27931