Pharma Fridays – March 29

  • Mar 2024
An Endocrine News roundup of the week’s pharmaceutical news, breakthroughs, and general information. *

Confo Therapeutics Secures Multi-Million Euro Grant

On March 28, Belgium-based Confo Therapeutics announced that it has been awarded a EUR 1.6 million grant from Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO).

The two-year grant will be used to expand Confo’s ongoing R&D efforts in the discovery of next-generation medicines targeting Class B GPCRs using its patent-protected technology platform. Class B GPCRs are recognized as important targets for new medicines, particularly in chronic endocrine and metabolic diseases.

“Receiving this additional VLAIO grant will strengthen our existing small molecule and antibody discovery efforts on high-value Class B GPCRs, which further paves the way to unlock new treatments for a range of endocrine and metabolic indications including obesity,” said Confo Therapeutics CEO Cedric Ververken. “We are grateful to VLAIO for its continued support, which will bolster our capabilities in Class B GPCR drug discovery and development.”

Christel Menet, CSO of Confo Therapeutics, added: “Despite advances made with peptide-based treatments, the need for improved molecules capable of targeting Class B GPCRs for the treatment of endocrine and metabolic diseases remains high. Our platform has already been proven on various targets including orphan GPCRs and Class B GPCRs, and with VLAIO’s support we will be able to accelerate our efforts to further unlock valuable targets in obesity and related metabolic indications.”

Confo’s proprietary platform, which includes the ConfoBody® and ConfoChimer® technologies, enables successful discovery of molecules targeting challenging GPCRs. ConfoBodies® are novel VHH domains which stabilize GPCRs in pharmacological states of interest by binding to their intracellular surface. ConfoChimer® technology enables universal ConfoBodies® to be used across the GPCR superfamily which expedites the discovery process. Confo has an extensive worldwide patent estate covering this suite of technologies.

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