OMass, a biotechnology company, has been awarded Oxford Science Park Innovation Award at the Oxfordshire Business Awards for identifying medicines against highly validated target ecosystems. The company uses new technologies to develop treatments against rare and immunological diseases.
Drug development needs long-term commitment with variable success rates at each stage of the process. This means that it is not at all possible to develop treatments for rare diseases or conditions that may relatively affect only a small percentage of the population. But, OMass Therapeutics, a spin-out company of Oxford University, is using a new technology platform to develop treatments for rare immunological and genetic diseases.
OMass’s new technology to treat immunological and genetic diseases
The work of OMass is based on novel mass spectrometry approaches to develop its property on the drug discovery platform, OdyssIon, developed in Professor Dame Carol Robinson’s Laboratory that enables the protein’s study in the cell membrane. The study uses novel biochemistry techniques, next-generation native mass spectrometry, and custom chemistry.
This drug discovery platform, OdyssIon, comprises multiple benefits like establishing an unambiguous link between binding and function to drive smart lead optimization, discovering drug binders with high sensitivity without filtering on activity, and identifying natural allosteric sites that can be targeted for drug discovery.
Currently, OMass is highly focused on developing an insurmountable antagonist of the MC2 receptor for congenital adrenal hyperplasia, a gasdermin D inhibitor that can be used for treating inflammatory diseases, and a GPR65 agonist for treating inflammatory bowel disease.
According to Rory Maw, chief executive officer of The Oxford Science Park and part of the Oxfordshire Business Awards judging panel, “The exciting portfolio of drug candidates has lured the judges a lot. This drug technology has a strong potential in treating rare and immunological diseases”.
According to Ros Deegan, chief executive officer of OMass Therapeutics, “We hold the pride of receiving this year’s Innovation Award and becoming part of the Oxfordshire innovation hub. We made great progress last year, and this innovative platform OdyssIon is the recognition benefit in searching for better therapeutics for patients with immunological and rare diseases.”
OMass has grown rapidly since its launch, from 3.5 staff after the first year of trading to a current headcount of 40, including computational scientists, chemists, pharmacologists, biochemists, and others. Today, the company is working on a drug-discovery program for various diseases ranging from a rare neurodevelopmental disorders to inflammatory bowel disease.
