Amgen Inc.

10/21/2021 | News release | Distributed by Public on 10/21/2021 08:51

Introducing Undruggable, a New Serial Podcast from Amgen R&D Exploring how Multispecifics can Usher in the Next Wave of Drug Discovery

Beginning October 21, Amgen's R&D podcast returns with the new series, Undruggable. Produced in partnership with The Scientist, Undruggable explores the latest wave of innovation, featuring conversations about the new types of multispecific medicines that have the potential to radically alter our concept of how drugs can work and pave the way for new therapies.

While breakthrough discoveries have been made, 85% of disease targets are still considered undruggable, which represents an ongoing barrier to developing medicines for complex diseases like cancer and autoimmune conditions. Undruggable discusses some of the latest advancements enabling scientists to make progress against these challenging diseases.

"We are in an exciting time for drug discovery and development. Once thought to be an insurmountable task, scientists are successfully tackling the problem of undruggable disease targets," said Ray Deshaies, senior vice president of Global Research at Amgen. "I'm thrilled to share these conversations that delve deeper into the ways scientists are designing medicines that go beyond what conventional drugs can accomplish."

Joining Deshaies are leaders from Amgen and premier research institutions discussing topics ranging from the promise of induced proximity platforms to the way DNA encoded libraries help scientists screen billions of molecules to find compounds that interact with tricky targets.

The first episode launches today, and the series continues with a new episode every Thursday through November 18. You can findUndruggable here or by subscribing to The Scientist's series LabTalk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen.

October 21: The Next Wave of Drug Development
Ryan Potts, Ph.D., executive director, Research and head of Induced Proximity Platform at Amgen

October 28: The Biology of PROTACs
Craig Crews, Ph.D., professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale

November 4: Discovery at the DNA Encoded Library
Alex Gouliaev, Ph.D., vice president, Amgen Research Copenhagen

November 11: The Emerging IPP Toolkit
Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., professor of Chemistry, Stanford

November 18: Induced Proximity: Reason for Optimism in Treating Cancer and Beyond
David Reese, M.D., executive vice president, Research and Development, Amgen

In addition to the podcast series, Amgen and The Scientist will host three live webinars digging deeper into the science behind the latest technologies aimed at treating undruggable diseases. Register to listen here.

Undruggable is the second of two serial podcasts in partnership with The Scientist. In the first series, DNA Unlocked, host Ray Deshaies takes listeners on a journey Amgen scientists and others have been on for the past 20 years to reveal the promise in the explosion of genome sequencing data to better understand human biology and transform drug research and development, and cure diseases. You can listen to the series here.