美国Forma Therapeutics www.formatherapeutics.com
剑桥马萨诸塞州的Forma Therapeutics公司多年来一直在探索结构生物学的药物发现途经。基于蛋白质结构的药物发现包括两个步骤：X射线晶体学及随后的计算机分析——分析过程借助于Forma公司的CS谱图专利平台，这是一种基于片段大小的计算机模拟方法。公司的创建者，首席科学官Steve Tregay博士详细讲述了计算机模拟技术的工作原理：通常用含有30~40个片段的测试集合将蛋白结构表面的测试数最小化，然后就寻找蛋白质表面能够与片段同源结合的位点。“我们需要做的就是小心翼翼的绘制出蛋白表面结合位点的图谱，并进一步鉴定活性位点、变构调节位点，在更广阔的蛋白—蛋白结合的表面发现关键的互作位点”，Tregay介绍说，“蛋白质表面结构的分析及相关互作位点的鉴别，为药物靶标的筛选、小分子药物的发现及先导化合物的优化过程提供了很好的途经。”
FORMA Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company integrating transformative biology and chemistry to unlock targets and pathways that have been validated through genomic medicine as root causes or major drivers of human cancers.
 
FORMA’s novel approach to accessing such high value drug targets, many of which pose significant challenges to conventional discovery approaches, is rooted in the concerted integration of its innovative drug discovery technologies and oncology expertise, enabling efficient screening, discovery and rational development of a novel generation of small molecule drug candidates with qualified cellular mechanisms of action. FORMA is building a robust pipeline of therapeutics directed at Achilles heels in human cancers, such as key targets associated with cancer stem cells, tumor cell metabolism, programmed cell death or epigenetic disease mechanisms.
 

FORMA builds on the vision of its academic founders: Stuart Schreiber, Todd Golub and Michael Foley, each of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. FORMA leverages its innovative drug discovery platform to address challenging targets and develop a robust internal pipeline of breakthrough oncology drugs.