Designed protein therapeutics
Minibinders for where antibodies can’t go. Surrogate molecules, therapeutic candidates, and early-stage collaboration for hard targets.
Where we fit
Surrogate molecules stand in for a therapeutic antibody before it exists, so a program can start in vitro and in vivo work months earlier. Therapeutic candidates for targets that resist traditional discovery: GPCRs, ion channels, and other membrane proteins.
Our sift narrows computational designs before anything reaches the lab, leaving a shortlist small enough to screen and produce in a single lab step.
Modalities
De novo and scaffold-based architectures matched to the target’s structural class. Multispecific formats. Fc fusions and other half-life-extended formats. Format follows the target’s biology.
Collaboration model
Each program is a collaboration. We scope it with you, then design, build, and validate against the goals we set together.
What you get
Curated, wet-lab validated minibinders meeting the design goals we set together, ready for in vitro and animal studies.
Design goals
- Target
- Epitope selectivity
- Cross-reactivity
- Yield
- Stability
- Efficiency
- And more…
Cycle structure, material transfer, and downstream rights are defined in the collaboration agreement.
Timeline
Standard biologic discovery and optimization takes 9 to 12 months. Our therapeutic programs target 1 to 2 months.
Therapeutic molecules require designing for clinical safety and manufacturability beyond what reagents may require.
- Scope alignment
- Generative design
- Repertoire screening
- Wet-lab validation
- Leads transfer
Stakeholder values
What a NovoFy program changes for each role on your team.
VP of Discovery
- More targets interrogated with the same resources.
- Go/no-go decisions on challenging targets in months instead of years.
Program manager
- A shortlist of lead molecules keeps lab timelines on track.
- Each phase ends on a predictable timeline.
Bench scientist
- A shortlist of candidates versus hundreds to characterize in vitro.
- Cross-species reactivity designed up front.
Translational / in vivo lead
- Surrogate molecules enable in vivo studies before the therapeutic exists.
- Immunogenicity risk is reduced before the molecule enters animal work.
- Cross-species analysis enables choosing the right animal model.
Expertise
Published work from the NovoFy team on GPCRs and multispecific antibody engineering, the experience behind our approach to hard targets.
Keri D, Walker M, Singh I, Nishikawa K, Garces F. Next generation of multispecific antibody engineering. Antibody Therapeutics 7(1):37–52, 2024.
Chen KYM, Keri D, Barth P. Computational design of G protein-coupled receptor allosteric signal transductions. Nature Chemical Biology 16:77–86, 2020.
Garces F, Mohr C, Zhang L, et al. Molecular insight into recognition of the CGRPR complex by migraine prevention therapy Aimovig (erenumab). Cell Reports 30(6):1714–1723, 2020.
Let’s get in touch.
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