Here's what was announced about the patented Synthetic libraries technology in 2012...
Taken from April 26, 2012: PHYLOGICA GRANTED PATENT FOR SYNTHETIC PHYLOMER LIBRARIES....
1. There are numerous applications of the newly patented technology.
2. Phylomer libraries can be designed in parallel formats on solid surfaces, such as peptide arrays or beads.
3. Array formats enable tens of thousands of peptides to be screened against multiple targets on a single miniature ‘chip’, significantly reducing the time and cost of identifying relevant drug candidates.
4. The technology is highly amenable to scaling using multiple chips to screen hundreds of thousands to millions of peptides at a time.
5. The technology also enhances various value-added uses of the Company’s platform, including direct phenotypic screening of Phylomer libraries for the discovery of, for example, novel antivirals, antibiotics or anticancer agents.
6. In addition, array formats facilitate the construction of a range of high-density Phylomer libraries, which can be used for new applications of the platform, such as the identification of disease biomarkers for the development of novel diagnostic products.
7. Phylogica’s Phylomer platform opens up new opportunities in the emerging field of synthetic biology.
Here's what we now know...
1. Phylogica is looking to construct and validate a universal specificity Phylomer chip in collaboration with IMB.
2. It will be a low-cost consumable device. It will be a single biosensor with multiple applications - diagnostics for various diseases, measuring agricultural and industrial uses.
3. The device will allow the identification of peptide probes that are specific for any target biomolecule, in a matter of minutes. Note, these tests normally take longer than minutes. I'll come back and elaborate on this point soon.
4. This goal has not been achieved with existing approaches (eg. antibody arrays) on a single chip due to the intrinsic biases that are inherent with existing classes of biologics based on one structural family (eg. the antibody variable region).
* CEO Paul Watt highlighted in the March 2012 briefing, that all of these antibody companies and all scaffold companies are displaying diversity within one structural theme. Phylogica have thousands of structural families (they've set up this library, which is literally the worlds most structural diverse peptide library, that has more shapes (keys) than anybody else in this space).
Watt also highlighted that Phylogica has set out to be the locksmith, to have as many keys as possible. They've literally got billions of keys, billions of peptides from thousands of structural families, so thousands of key brands, which why the big pharma companies are coming to Phylogica.
5. If I am understanding this correctly, the biosensor that the company are working on may very well differentiate their product from anyone else in this space, due to their 'master keys' technology. Why else would they move into this already crowded space if they weren't working or had something truly unique?
6. The company's current libraries contain 400 billion peptides from thousands of structural families...so in principle they could make libraries containing trillions of peptides and still own the libraries. They basically have control of this particular drug class. And they're constantly adding to their library - adding diversity, which means adding new genomes.
7. Watt also highlighted in the March briefing that the company have spent about $2 mill dollars protecting their patent portfolio over the years. Phylogica now have granted patents in major jurisdictions like the USA, Europe and other major jurisdictions covering any conceivable method of making or screening phylomer libraries. They also have composition of matter, which means they own the libraries themselves as 'stuff'. So that's why the Pharma companies have to come to them. In other words, they own all these 'keys' and nobody can try to replicate them. Quite impressive.
8. IMB have positioned themselves as a world leader in this emerging field and Phylogica have now chosen to collaborate with them on this very exciting project.
9. Based on the above alone, I believe we could be looking at disruptive technology, one that will truly be transformational.
Regards, Tony
PYC Price at posting:
2.0¢ Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
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