Schrödinger jumps on the PRMT5 bandwagon

Plenty of companies are already vying to get a PRMT5 inhibitor to market. Another joined the fray yesterday, with Schrödinger disclosing during its third-quarter results that it's also going after this target, with an as-yet-unnamed asset at the discovery phase.

The company also revealed that Bristol Myers Squibb had handed back rights to two oncology-focused programmes, although their identity is shrouded in mystery. Schrödinger execs reassured investors during a conference call that the partnership between the two companies, signed around three years ago, was still going strong. 

Same protein

Bristol’s reasons for returning the projects were “strategic”, said Schrödinger’s chief executive, Ramy Farid, who added that the assets had been making “excellent technical progress”.

In terms of clues about their identity, all Schrödinger’s president of R&D, Karen Akinsanya, would say was that they hit the same protein, and addressed “precedented targets”. 

It might have been speculated that Bristol had handed back the PRMT5 inhibitor that Schrödinger unveiled today, as the big pharma’s takeout of Mirati will give it an agent against this target. However, this appears not to be the case: Schrödinger said the group was still trying to decide what to do with the returned assets, which could include developing them itself or trying to find a new partner.

SOS1 and HIF-2-alpha, targets previously named in connection with the 2020 Bristol deal, can also be ruled out. In November 2021, the HIF-2-alpha project reverted to Schrödinger and the companies agreed to replace it with another “precision oncology” target.

And the SOS1 project reached development candidate status and was transferred to Bristol earlier this year, Farid said yesterday. It is notable, however, that Mirati also has a SOS1 inhibitor, MRTX0902, so Bristol might need to make a choice between these agents at some future point. 

If this all looks like bad news for Schrödinger's collaboration, execs said yesterday that Bristol was still an "important partner". In addition to the SOS1 asset, Bristol and Schrödinger are working on three active research programmes, according to the chief exec. But another unnamed project also fell by the wayside last September.

Schrödinger is promising more details on its PRMT5-targeting candidate, and other early-stage programmes, at a pipeline day on December 14. Perhaps then it will also emerge what assets Bristol opted out of.