Cloud Pharmaceuticals, a cloud-based drug design and development company located in Research Triangle Park, N.C., and Switzerland-based THERAMetrics have formed a strategic collaboration focusing on the design and development of therapeutics for orphan central nervous system (CNS) diseases and other indications.

The partnership initially will focus on orphan diseases such as Huntington’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). In parallel to those efforts, both companies will pursue sponsored development for additional respiratory indications.

THERAMetrics will employ its DRR 2.0 technology to identify novel protein targets, which are produced by the genes responsible for certain pathologies. Cloud Pharmaceuticals will apply its Quantum Molecular Design process to design small molecular compounds and peptides that inhibit the activity of those targets. Plans call for Cloud Pharmaceuticals to manage early drug development efforts of lead compounds and THERAMetrics’ CRO business to manage clinical research.

“THERAMetrics has extensive research and development experience with orphan diseases,” said Raffaele Petrone, CEO and board chairman of THERAMetrics. “Using the DRR 2.0 technology, we have identified individual targets that are suitable for multiple orphan CNS indications, potentially enabling an adaptive trial approach to development. By partnering with Cloud Pharmaceuticals, we believe we’ll be able to provide novel and highly specific drug candidates for certain diseases.”

Cloud Pharmaceuticals CEO Ed Addison added, “The cost to develop medicines for orphan diseases by traditional methods is too costly—that’s why there’s a lack of effective therapies for many conditions. Our approach is particularly suited to the development of therapeutics for orphan diseases because we design drug candidates that are better suited for development from the outset. Preclinical development steps can then be applied to a much more qualified list of candidates, enabling faster progress at lower cost and a higher success rate, even with elusive targets.”