Membrane therapeutic targets (GPCRs, ion channels, transporters, etc.) are essential as templates in the development of drug candidates, both in small molecule screening and in the manufacture of therapeutic antibodies, or as antigens in the development of new vaccines. There is therefore a direct link between the quality of a therapeutic target and the reliability of the biodrug obtained downstream. Today, nearly all the available targets are obtained via denaturing purification and stabilization procedures, resulting in less than robust drug candidates and vaccines. This also partly explains the clinical phase failures and the poor performance of some drugs on the market.

There are several thousand therapeutic targets in humans, yet only a few of these are currently available to the pharmaceutical industry. To address this unmet medical need and industry gap, Calixar developed a technology enabling the development of very reliable native therapeutic targets that were previously unavailable; in order to improve the success rate of clinical studies and to open up new therapeutic pathways (1-8).

Calixar validated its technology with numerous clients and partners, from pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to public and private research institutes. Its platform has been used to isolate over 100 client’s targets involved in a number of diseases, many of which had previously never been subject to native and functional isolation.