Neochromosome and Sumitovant Biopharma Announce Successful Collaboration to Accelerate Protein Drug Discovery and Improve Manufacturing

Neochromosome, a wholly owned subsidiary of Opentrons Labworks, focused on changing the world of biologics through genome-scale cell engineering, has announced a collaboration with Sumitovant Biopharma Inc., a technology-driven biopharmaceutical company accelerating the development and commercialization of novel therapeutics. This collaboration combines Neochromosome’s neoYeast™ platform with Sumitovant’s DrugOME™ computational ecosystem to identify novel proteins that would benefit from non-canonical amino acid chemistries that are not found in nature.

As part of the collaboration, Sumitovant utilized a proprietary combination of natural language processing (NLP), machine learning, artificial intelligence, and computational algorithms to uncover opportunities for Neochromosome to improve the discovery and manufacturing of proteins limited by evolution and traditional manufacturing processes. Non-canonical amino acid incorporation enables new-to-nature proteins with better structures and functions, but has often required chemical synthesis, which is costly, size- and complexity-constrained, and environmentally damaging. neoYeast, built on Neochromosome’s world-leading genome-scale cell engineering technology stack, unlocks highly efficient and environmentally friendly incorporation of non-canonical amino acids into proteins, with discovery and manufacturing both enabled in a single genome-engineered yeast strain. Sumitovant utilized DrugOME to systematically and comprehensively explore libraries of traditional and non-traditional data sources to recommend targeted protein development candidates for neoYeast.

“The combination of Sumitovant’s technology platform and life-sciences expertise with Neochromosome’s ability to both discover and biomanufacture novel proteins in a single system enables Neochromosome to accelerate and streamline the delivery of better therapies for patients,” commented Leslie Mitchell, Co-Founder and CEO of Neochromosome. “We are excited to partner with the world-class team at Sumitovant to identify opportunities to create better versions of existing drugs, along with new-to-nature compounds, and to manufacture them efficiently at scale.”

“This partnership with Neochromosome is a great example of how we can pair our proprietary artificial intelligence and natural language processing platform DrugOME to accelerate many aspects of scientific research and competitive intelligence,” said Bill McMahon, chief algorithmic analytics officer at Sumitovant. “Sumitovant’s extensive life-sciences expertise, combined with our in-house technology platforms, provide a unique opportunity for our portfolio assets as well as external partners to accelerate the drug discovery, development, and commercialization processes.”

The collaboration launched in 2022 as Neochromosome pursues opportunities to improve drug discovery, development, and manufacturing across multiple biologic types, including antibodies, enzymes, peptides, cytokines, and vaccines.