Paper entitled “Protein Methyltransferases as Target Class for Drug Discovery” by BV4 Portfolio Company Epizyme Scientists published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery
Cambridge, MA - September 9, 2009: A paper underscoring the importance of protein methyltransferases (PMTs) in drug discovery is published in the September 2009 online issue of NATURE REVIEWS DRUG DISCOVERY. Scientists Dr. Robert A. Copeland and Dr. Victoria M. Richon from Epizyme, Inc. in their paper entitled "Protein methyltransferases as a target class for drug discovery" conclude that "The structures and enzymatic mechanisms of the PMTs support the view that pharmacological modulation of these enzymes by small-molecule inhibitors will be an effective means of therapeutic intervention in cancer and numerous other unmet medical needs." The paper describes the PMT enzymes and the convergent biological and structural data that presage the utility of these enzymes as a target class for drug discovery.
Dr. Copeland, corresponding author and Chief Scientific Officer at Epizyme, commented, "The articulation of the HMTome and its comparison to the highly useful kinome is an example of the kind of industrial translation of basic science that is an integral component of Epizyme's platform. The kinome has resulted in more than 100 drugs in the market place or currently in clinical development, and we believe that the broad class of epigenetic enzymes has the potential to analogously define productive targets across multiple diseases."