Plexxikon
Plexxikon is an American drug-discovery company based in Berkeley, California, that was co-founded in 2001 by Joseph Schlessinger of Yale University with Sung-Hou Kim of the University of California, Berkeley.
It uses a proprietary structural biology-based platform called Scaffold-Based Drug Discovery to build a pipeline of products in multiple therapeutic areas. This discovery process integrates multiple state-of-the-art technologies, including structural screening as one key component that it hopes will give a significant competitive advantage over other approaches.
In April 2011, Plexxikon was acquired by the Japanese pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo for $805 million and an additional $130 m in potential milestone payments.[1]
Pipeline
To date, the company has discovered several clinical and preclinical stage compounds.
- PLX4032 One of the most advanced drugs under development is an inhibitor of an activated (mutated) form of the B-Raf kinase. A V600E mutant of the B-Raf kinase is found in approximately 70% of malignant melanomas, a large percentage of colorectal and thyroid cancers and many other tumor types. PLX4032 selectively inhibits this form of the kinase, and is currently in clinical trials. Plexxikon has entered into a partnership with Roche Pharmaceuticals to develop PLX4032 as a targeted anti-cancer therapeutic,[2] which has shown particular promise for treating melanoma.[3]
- PLX204 Plexxikon is also collaborating with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals on several products (centered on PPAR inhibitors) for use in type II diabetes and other metabolic disorders.[4] The most advanced of these agents is PLX204, which is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials for type II diabetes.[5]
- PLX7486, (a CSF1R inhibitor) has started a clinical trial for advanced solid tumors.[6]