Daewoong partners with Sweden's Salipro to boost drug discovery
Daewoong Pharmaceutical on Wednesday announced a strategic research partnership with Swedish biotech company Salipro Biotech to jointly develop next-generation therapeutics targeting membrane proteins.
Under the agreement, Salipro will provide Daewoong access to its proprietary Salipro Platform, a technology that stabilizes membrane proteins in a near-native environment, making them more accessible for drug discovery.
Membrane proteins are involved in essential cellular functions and account for over 60 percent of known drug targets, yet their structural instability in lab conditions has long been a barrier to research.
The partnership is Salipro's first with a Korean company and follows previous collaborations with major pharmaceutical firms including Boehringer Ingelheim, Sanofi and Sumitomo. Daewoong views the alliance as a key step in its open innovation strategy, aiming to bolster its global competitiveness and lay the groundwork for potential overseas licensing deals.
'Our partnership with Daewoong marks Salipro's first collaboration with a Korean company, making it especially meaningful,' Jens Frauenfeld, CEO of Salipro Biotech, stated. 'The Salipro platform enables research on previously inaccessible target proteins and is expected to unlock new possibilities in global innovative drug development.'
Park Seong-soo, CEO of Daewoong Pharmaceutical, added, 'We expect that the Salipro platform will enhance our access to challenging membrane protein targets and accelerate our drug discovery efforts. Through an open collaboration strategy, we will continue to develop globally competitive new drugs.'
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