Plex Pharmaceuticals is focused on advancing drug discovery technologies to address complex diseases, particularly neurodegenerative disorders, cataracts, and CNS tumors. The company employs a unique approach that combines functional fragment screening with X-ray crystallography to design and synthesize new chemical entities (NCEs) with drug-like properties. This methodology allows Plex to identify highly selective inhibitors for closely related target isotypes, enhancing therapeutic efficacy. By utilizing a proprietary 1,000-member fragment library optimized for blood-brain barrier penetration, Plex aims to expedite the screening process and improve the specificity of drug candidates, minimizing false positives that can arise from traditional screening methods.

In its drug discovery programs, Plex targets heat shock proteins (Hsp) and FK506 Binding Proteins (FKBP) to develop treatments for proteopathic neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The company is also exploring the potential of alpha-crystallin (AC) to prevent cataract formation by enhancing its chaperone-like activity. Additionally, Plex has initiated programs to discover inhibitors of HSP 90 and its mitochondrial homolog TRAP-1 for treating CNS tumors, including glioblastoma. Through a combination of biochemical and cell-based assays, Plex aims to identify potent and selective leads, leveraging collaborations with institutions like the Mayo Clinic to access well-characterized patient-derived cancer cell lines.

United States

Plex Pharmaceuticals is a scientifically-driven company with a vision to improve the lives of patients afflicted with complex diseases and disorders including but not limited to Parkinson’s disease, glioblastoma and Cataracts.Plex has programs to develop modulators of heat shock proteins (Hsp) and FK506 Binding Protein (FKBP) as treatments for proteopathic neurodegenerative diseases (PNDDs) such as Parkinson’s disease (PD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Plex Pharmaceuticals

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