Domain, Xoma Make GPCR-Focused Pact

Domain Therapeutics, a French biopharmaceutical firm with a focus on G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), is collaborating with California-based therapeutic antibody firm Xoma to see how well Domain’s DTect-All™ platform can identify allosteric modulator antibodies of a first target.

Domain says that DTect-All has demonstrated the ability to discover small molecule allosteric modulators for several different types of GPCRs. If the test is a succcess, the firms will work together on other GPCRs from a set of already-selected targets. Domain will be eligible for a payment up front along with milestones per target and royalties the firms did not disclose. Per the agreement, Domain can still offer DTect-All to discover antibody-based drugs to other companies outside the scope of the collection of GPCRs Xoma selects.

“We anticipate that this collaboration will enhance our drug discovery capabilities by opening the door to other biologics,” said Domain CEO and board director Pascal Neuville in a statement. “It will further strengthen Domain Therapeutics’ position as a key player in GPCR drug discovery.”

Last month, Domain opened a North American subsidiary—Domain Therapeutics NA—at the NEOMED Institute in Montreal as part of a plan to bring its GPCR-specific biosensor technology BioSens-All™ to market. Domain selected Montreal as a base with the hope that being geographically close to pharmaceutical and biotech firms in the U.S. and Canada would open the door to new collaborations with those companies in the future.