Conference Day Two

8:00 am Check-in & Morning Coffee

8:40 am Chair’s Opening Remarks

  • Perla Breccia Senior Director - Chemistry, Astex Pharmaceuticals

Shaping the Future of RNA-Targeted Therapeutics by Identifying Investment Trends & Forging Strategic Collaborations to Drive Novel Therapeutics to Patients

8:45 am Panel Discussion: Building Strategic Collaborations & Investment Pathways to Accelerate RNA-Targeted Drug Discovery Across Biotech & Pharma

  • Peng Yue Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, ReviR Therapeutics
  • Elena Diez Cecilia Senior Director of External Innovation, DPDS, Johnson & Johnson
  • Jerry McMahon Chief Executive Officer & President, STORM Therapeutics Ltd.
  • Nikolai Naryshkin Chief Scientific Officer, Ribonaut Therapeutics
  • Jennifer Petter Founder and Scientific Chief and Officer, Arrakis Therapeutics Inc.
  • Atsushi Shiomi Director of Innovation Research Partnering, NS Pharma, Inc.
  • Christopher O’Donnell Partner & Vice President of Worldwide Business Development, Pfizer Ventures

Synopsis

• Discussing the importance of pharma-biotech-academic collaborations and what each sector can provide to successfully create RNA-targeted therapeutics

• How are large pharma and biotech companies structuring risk-sharing partnerships to access innovation and accelerate RNA-targeted therapeutic pipelines

• How can early-stage companies leverage academic collaborations, tool compound sharing and co development deals to validate targets and attract strategic capital

• What trends can be identified from recent investments, M&A activity and deal structures to inform future strategies in RNA therapeutics

9:45 am Advancing the Therapeutic Potential of Epitranscriptomics: Storm’s Firstin- Class METTL3 Inhibitor, STC-15

  • Jerry McMahon Chief Executive Officer & President, STORM Therapeutics Ltd.

Synopsis

• Preclinical data demonstrates that modulating RNA methylation via METTL3 inhibition can enhance tumor sensitivity to treatment and impair resistance mechanisms

• Epitranscriptomic regulation produces durable changes to gene expression and the tumor microenvironment, suggesting anti-cancer efficacy through multiple mechanisms

• STC-15 clinical and translational data point to broad utility of METTL3 inhibition, enabling new treatment approaches across oncology indications

10:15 am Morning Break & Networking

Advancing RNA Target Selection & Functional Binder Design to Enable Reliable Modulation & Accelerate Therapeutic Discovery

11:00 am Panel Discussion: Selecting RNA Targets with Confidence to Maximize Therapeutic Impact & Enable Small Molecule Intervention

Synopsis

• What level of therapeutic effect biologically validates an RNA target and how can we ensure robust validation to uncover the RNA’s true therapeutic potential

• Which criteria should guide the selection of RNA targets to ensure compatibility with small molecule binding and downstream functional binder discovery

• What structural motifs or folding are indicative of a druggable RNA target and how can we reliably identify them during early discovery

11:45 am Conformation-Driven Biochemical Screening Approach Discovers Functional RNA Binders that Modulate Myc Translation In Cancer

Synopsis

• Discovering selective binders for translational regulatory elements in the Myc mRNA using Wayfinder’s highly quantitative HTS platform

• Validating functional activity and drug-like properties while reaching sub-micromolar potency via compound optimization

• Elucidating compound targeting profile and tumor-specific mechanism of action

12:15 pm Lunch Break & Networking

Targeting Structured RNA Motifs with Small Molecules to Enable Selective Functional Binders & Unlock New Therapeutic Frontiers

1:15 pm Identifying Viral RNA Drug Targets to Develop Novel Antivirals

Synopsis

  • Regulatory viral RNAs offer myriad new targets in diseases that impact millions of people across the world every year
  • RNA-targeted small molecule libraries yield a high rate of antivirals in targeted and phenotypic screens
  • Mechanism of action and target engagement are readily assessed

1:45 pm Targeting HTT RNA & Translation for Allele-Selective Lowering of Mutant Huntingtin

Synopsis

• Validating HTT exon1 as a target for allele-selective targeting in HD

• Identifying and profiling of allele-preferential HTT RNA binding small molecules

• Exploring opportunities for targeting uORF regulatory mechanisms in HTT translation

2:15 pm An In-Cell Framework for Small Molecule Targeting of Human mRNAs

  • Kevin Weeks Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Founder, UNC at Chapel Hill

Synopsis

  • Built from the ground up, recognizing that RNA is a fundamentally different kind of drug target
  • Has identified high-quality chemical matter against hundreds of high-value targets
  • Solves challenges of selectivity and progressibility that have bedeviled RNA targeting
  • Leads to rapid de-risking of targets, asset identification, and function modulation

2:25 pm Afternoon Networking Break

Unlocking Peptide-Ribosome Complexes & Fungal RNA as Targets to Develop Novel Therapeutics Against Cancer & Infectious Diseases

3:15 pm Context-Dependent Translation Inhibition as a Novel Cancer Therapeutic Modality

Synopsis

• Leveraging structure-based drug design to inhibit the translation of historically undruggable oncology targets, including MYC, with orally dosed small molecules called interdictors

• Developing hetero-bifunctional molecules called Interdictors that bind to the ribosome and prevent protein synthesis by engaging with the linear nascent polypeptide as it is being made

• Combining techniques of in vitro biochemistry, ribosome profiling, structural biology and cellular biology, we characterize the context-selective activity of several tool interdictors and how they inhibit cancer cell proliferation

• Demonstrating robust efficacy in the MDA-MB-231 model for TNBC, establishing interdiction as a novel small molecule therapeutic modality for addressing historically difficult-to-treat cancers

3:45 pm Targeting Group I Introns with Small Molecules: Unlocking a New Antifungal Mechanism Through RNA Targeting

Synopsis

• Identifying self-splicing Group I introns as a novel RNA target in human-pathogenic fungi, such as Candida albicans, highlighting a unique RNA-targeting mechanism distinct from existing antifungal drugs

• Developing small molecule inhibitors through FRET-based high-throughput screening, followed by structure activity relationship (SAR) analysis and mechanistic insights guided by cryo-EM structural data

• Demonstrating potent cellular antifungal efficacy with low cytotoxicity, establishing RNA-targeting small molecules as a promising new class of antifungals

4:15 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks

  • Perla Breccia Senior Director - Chemistry, Astex Pharmaceuticals

4:30 pm End of the 8th RNA-Targeted Drug Discovery & Development Summit