Opportunities in proximity modulation: Bridging academia and industry

Abstract

In the past decade, exciting therapeutic strategies to harness the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) for degradation of target proteins have emerged. Proximity-inducing modalities are at the center of these strategies and act by modulating protein-protein interactions. While we are still learning to harvest this approach, it holds tremendous promise for developing treatments for hitherto undruggable proteins. Here, we discuss how academic efforts and academic-industrial collaboration have advanced the development of therapeutic modalities based on the principle of proximity induction. We make a case for forming a global academia-industry alliance to enhance access to training and expertise while accelerating innovation and translation from ground-breaking ideas to proof of concept in the clinic.

Keywords: E3 ligases; MGDs; PROTACs; TPD; academic-industrial collaboration; innovation hubs; molecular glue degraders; proximity induction; public-private partnerships; targeted protein degradation; technology transfer.