Domain Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company based in Strasbourg, France, specializing in the R&D of new drug candidates targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), has opened its North American subsidiary at the NEOMED Institute in Montreal, Canada.

The NEOMED Institute is a state-of-the-art R&D facility in the Montreal Technoparc and acts as an open-access drug discovery hub hosting drug discovery and development research companies, providing a unique environment to foster innovation, collaboration and creativity.

Establishing a presence for Domain Therapeutics in Montreal is part of the company's strategy for bringing to market a new GPCR-specific biosensor technology, BioSens-All. BioSens-All technology enables a deeper understanding of the signaling pathways activated by each candidate molecule and predicts its pharmacological profile.

The technology was developed in the molecular pharmacology research unit headed by professor Michel Bouvier at the Universite de Montreal's (UdeM) Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC). Domain Therapeutics will work in close partnership with the inventors of the technology at UdeM and McGill University.

A license agreement between UdeM, McGill University and Domain Therapeutics for GPCR-specific biosensor technology was signed at the end of 2013. The exclusive focus of activity at Domain Therapeutics will be R&D for its own projects and for those the company undertakes in collaboration with industry partners.

Domain Therapeutics' presence in North America reflects the company's desire to expand. The geographical proximity of Domain Therapeutics' subsidiary will help to secure new partnerships with Canadian and U.S. pharma and biotech companies.

"The move to Canada's NEOMED Institute marks an important milestone in the life of our company,” said Pascal Neuville, board director and CEO of Domain Therapeutics. “We are confident that this foothold will help us to build strategic relationships with North American companies and to use the BioSens-All technology to accelerate the development of our projects."

The NEOMED Institute is a dedicated center of excellence for drug R&D. It offers access to highly specialized equipment and encourages synergies between resident companies leading to collaborative projects. One year from inception, the Institute is now host to 15 companies.

“This initiative will expedite the process of bringing to market an important element of the IRIC technology portfolio," said Steven Klein, vice president, business development at the nonprofit Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer—Commercialization of Research (IRICoR).

The BioSens-All technology is the second technology acquired by Domain Therapeutics. The company also owns DTect-All, a specialist screening platform for the discovery of innovative drugs that target GPCRs.