Orphan Receptor Drug Discovery

In a climate favoring defined clinical product opportunities, it's no wonder venture capitalists have a hard time seeing the value proposition in investing in orphan nuclear receptor drug discovery. Orphans raise red flags because the correlation between activation of orphan receptors and the corresponding role in the development, initiation, or progression of specific diseases is not known. Plus, companies have not yet shown that they can leverage a discovery technology platform across several orphan receptor targets.

Nuclear receptors are a set of hormone-dependent and hormone-independent transcription factors that are responsible for reproduction, growth, differentiation, and homeostasis. They are part of a large superfamily consisting of receptors...