Artificial enzymes to boost drug discovery

Xavier, why are enzymes important to the pharma industry?

The pharma industry increasingly uses enzymes today to optimize the production of drugs. Enzymes are more selective, proficient, and environmentally friendly compared to chemical alternatives, which makes for more cost-efficient processes.

In addition, enzymes empower new prospects in drug discovery. Most drugs are built by combining chemical building blocks. Enzymes are essential to prepare a particular class of building blocks - which chemists call chiral compounds - that are increasingly used to create more potent and specific pharmaceuticals.

What are the benefits of using artificial enzymes?

Natural enzymes are a great chemical toolbox for chemists, but they are limited in scope. Using artificial enzymes, we can extend all the benefits of biocatalysis to reactions that are poorly represented or even non-existent in life. In this way, chiral building blocks with innovative structures and functionalities can be prepared with high selectivity and efficiency.

How do you create artificial enzymes?

Our artificial enzymes are created in a three-step process. First, complex computational programs are used to design the enzyme for a reaction of choice. The resulting catalyst is then improved using an iterative experimental procedure that mimics natural evolution. Finally, we adjust the properties of our enzyme to the specific needs of a reaction, such as a particular substrate. Using this procedure, we recently created artificial enzymes to synthesize chiral tertiary alcohols, and we are developing this patent-pending process to create unprecedented libraries of chemical building blocks. Making a new artificial enzyme for every reaction of interest is still laborious, but we don’t need to - we have created versatile enzymes that catalyze an astonishing breadth of useful reactions.

What are your goals for next year?

I want to found a company within the next months, join collaborators, and start commercializing a small library of compounds. I expect that our unique molecules will pique the interest of potential partners and investors, and we can further expand our catalogue and develop customized collections of molecules. In addition, we can tailor enzymatic processes for customers interested in their unique abilities.