Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Licenses Powerful Discovery Methodology and Platform from Harvard University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute for Development of Further Next-Generation Class II-Selective HDAC Inhibitor Compounds

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Acetylon Pharmaceuticals today announced an exclusive therapeutic license for a robust platform technology and chemical methodology to conduct high-throughput screening and lead optimization for HDAC inhibitor compounds, as well as a portfolio of small-molecule selective histone deacetylase (HDAC) enzyme inhibitors including the first-ever selective inhibitor of HDAC6. The license was granted to Acetylon by Harvard University and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Acetylon is currently focused on the development of potential drug candidates based on next generation Class II-selective HDAC inhibitors. Class IIB enzymes such as HDAC6 have emerged as important targets in inflammatory disease, neurologic disease and broadly in cancer. The platform and methodology were discovered by two of Acetylon’s scientific founders, James E. Bradner MD of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Ralph Mazitschek Ph.D., now of the Massachusetts General Hospital, along with colleagues at Harvard and the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Acetylon Pharmaceuticals believes that its next-generation, selective HDAC inhibitor compounds may accomplish enhanced clinical utility by reducing or eliminating the debilitating and sometimes life-threatening side effects associated with the current first-generation of non-selective HDAC inhibitors.