Autoimmune Diseases

A focus of research at 4SC is the development of new therapies for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. These are disorders with very high therapeutic need, for example, in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 4SC researches the effect of potential new drugs for the specific regulation of such immune system disorders. For example, the development of highly selective ion channel blockers should pave the way for the development of innovative treatments for multiple sclerosis and arthritis. This research revolves around the Kv1.3 potassium channel.

Other efforts pursue the development of inhibitors for the important target class of protein kinases. These research activities focus on protein kinases which are responsible for the disease-related over-regulation of transcription factors and which have a low side effect profile when their activity is inhibited. Cytokines like IL-6 can be specifically regulated with these kinase inhibitors. In addition, previously unknown classes of chemical compounds are discovered with the help of the proprietary computer-based 4SCan® technology. The combination of new targets and new compound classes forms the innovation driver in 4SC’s future portfolio.

4SC strives to establish partnerships with other pharmaceutical and biotech companies in its highly innovative research projects, in order to leverage the maximum potential from the developments which emerge from these promising projects.

There are currently four projects in the research pipeline:

• Highly specific kinase inhibitors for cancer stem cells (CSCs)
• Anti-cancer immunotherapeutic agents (innovative TLR agonists)
• Kv1.3 blockers for selective therapy of autoimmune diseases
• Kinase inhibitors for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as COPD, asthma and arthritis