Exo Therapeutics has developed a small-molecule enzyme inhibitor discovery platform that targets distal binding pockets of enzymes (exo-sites) that are not evolutionarily conserved. Combining this approach with DNA-encoded libraries, the company is generating more potent drugs with higher specificity to the targeted substrate. Exo has identified a series of high-value target opportunities within oncology and is focusing its efforts on validation of reprogramming enzymes using exo-site function-selective inhibitors.
David Liu, PhD
Alan Saghatelian, PhD
JP Maianti, PhD
David Liu may be best known as a CRISPR trailblazer behind Editas Medicine, Beam Therapeutics and Prime Medicine. But more than six years ago, he worked with a student from his Harvard lab and then-colleague Alan Saghatelian on a much different project: developing a small molecule inhibitor of insulin-degrading enzymes.