Dunad Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of next-generation targeted protein degradation therapies, which it says overcome several of the major challenges with current degradation platforms, including oral bioavailability and CNS exposure.
Founded in 2020 and based in Cambridge, UK, the company builds on work carried out in the Gunning Group at University of Toronto Mississauga in Canada. Prof. Patrick Gunning is Dunad’s co-founder, acting Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer.
Dunad’s small molecule platform induces targeted degradation of disease-causing proteins via direct modulation of the target protein’s surface topology. The company says its novel molecular approach, based on mono-valent small molecules, is fully tuneable to be exquisitely selective for the target, and is underpinned by a target-class agnostic mechanism of action that is distinct from traditional mechanisms of targeted protein degradation. The company’s approach also makes for a more effective drug discovery and development path.
The company now plans to further build the platform, enhance its proteomics and bioinformatics infrastructure and expand its proprietary library of covalent degraders with the aim to advance a pipeline of novel therapeutics, predominantly focused on oncology and CNS indications.