AMRI and CHDI Foundation entered a collaboration agreement focused on the discovery of new therapies for the treatment of Huntington’s disease (HD). AMRI will test samples from its compound collection against several JNK kinases. These kinases may be involved in the progression of HD. AMRI will use its computer-aided drug discovery (CADD), biological assay development and high throughput screening for this project.

“AMRI is pleased to have this opportunity to partner with CHDI in its efforts to mitigate the effects of Huntington’s disease. We look forward to leveraging our expertise in a broad spectrum of drug discovery services to develop potential treatments for this debilitating condition,” said Bruce Sargent, Ph.D., vice president, discovery R&D at AMRI. “Based on the potential success of this first phase, AMRI has the ability to provide lead optimization services including medicinal chemistry and in vitro metabolism, making for a fully integrated drug discovery project in terms of time, quality and efficient use of resources.”

“Collaborating strategically with companies like AMRI helps us manage our scientific activities more efficiently,” said Ignacio Muñoz-Sanjuan, vice president of biology at CHDI. “Access to AMRI’s compound library and lead optimization services may allow us to move confidently from biological research into translational and pre-clinical programs.”