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  • Integrated Drug Discovery

    Integrated Drug Discovery

    Overview

    We deliver truly integrated drug discovery programs. Our co-located teams accelerate compounds from target ID to candidate.

  • Target Identification & Validation

    Target Identification & Validation

    It’s important to lay strong foundations for successful drug discovery at this first stage of the process. Our integrated target identification and validation platform combines AI with expert insights, and rigorous lab validation to guide targets through robust evaluation, ready for hit discovery.

  • Hit Identification

    Hit Identification

    Validated, high-quality hits, delivered through integrated technologies and expert collaboration, give you a confident starting point for faster drug discovery.

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    Hit-to-Lead

    High-quality hits with early proof of concept are de-risked and profiled, ready to accelerate your program towards lead optimization.

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    Lead Optimization

    Turning promising leads into clinical candidates with speed, precision, and the scientific expertise to generate high-quality data and deliver real patient impact.

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  • Modalities

    Modalities

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    Delivering integrated, modality-agnostic drug discovery to tackle complex biology, accelerate development, and advance innovative therapies with confidence.

  • Small Molecules

    Small Molecules

    Expert small molecule discovery from target ID to scale-up, delivering candidates designed for success and market impact.

  • Peptides

    Peptides

    Transforming complex peptide concepts into next-generation therapies through integrated design, advanced analytics, and collaborative end-to-end discovery expertise.

  • Targeted protein degradation

    Targeted protein degradation

    Leveraging induced proximity and CHARMED technology to rapidly design, test, and optimize degraders for previously ‘undruggable’ targets.

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    ADCs

    Advancing next-generation ADCs through payload-focused design, integrated expertise, and collaborative innovation to deliver safer, more selective therapies.

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    Biologics

    Driving biologics innovation through integrated design, structural biology, and multidisciplinary expertise to accelerate next-generation therapies from concept to clinic.

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  • Therapeutic Areas

    Therapeutic Areas

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    Combining deep therapeutic expertise with translational insight to design strategies, reduce risk, and accelerate discovery programs toward clinical success.

  • Oncology and Immuno-Oncology

    Oncology and Immuno-Oncology

    Accelerating oncology drug discovery through integrated expertise, innovative modalities, and translational insight to deliver candidates with real clinical impact.

  • Inflammation and Immunology

    Inflammation and Immunology

    Driving immunology and inflammation drug discovery through tailored assays, translational models, and integrated expertise for faster clinical success.

  • Neuroscience

    Neuroscience

    Advancing CNS drug discovery through integrated models, translational biomarkers, and multidisciplinary expertise to overcome complexity and accelerate therapeutic innovation.

  • Metabolic Diseases

    Metabolic Diseases

    Designing and advancing differentiated small-molecule therapies for obesity and diabetes through integrated expertise, mechanistic insight, and translational strategies.

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  • CellCentric Lead Optimisation Campaign - CCS1477

    CellCentric Lead Optimisation Campaign - CCS1477

    Inobrodib, an exciting, first-in-class oral anti-cancer drug in clinical development by CellCentric, was collaboratively designed, synthesised and supported on its pre-clinical journey by an integrated project team at Sygnature Discovery. Inobrodib is now showing promising results in Phase I and II trials for multiple myeloma and other cancer types.

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  • About Sygnature

    About Sygnature

    At Sygnature Discovery, we deliver world-leading drug discovery solutions to accelerate your compound from idea to clinic.

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    Meet our Team

    Our leadership team brings diverse experience and insight, driving collaboration and innovation across drug discovery.

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Supporting Kv7 Drug Discovery: Spotlight Kv7.2/7.3

Supporting Kv7 Drug Discovery: Spotlight Kv7.2/7.3

Why Kv7.2/7.3 Matters

The Kv7.2/7.3 (KCNQ2/KCNQ3) channel complex plays a critical role in regulating neuronal excitability through generation of the neuronal M-current. By limiting repetitive neuronal firing and helping to stabilize membrane potential, these channels are important regulators of normal neuronal signaling.

Interest in Kv7-targeted therapeutics has grown due to increasing understanding of the role these channels play in disorders associated with neuronal hyperexcitability, including epilepsy, developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs), KCNQ2-related disorders and neuropathic pain. As a result, robust pharmacological tools are required to support the discovery and characterization of novel Kv7 modulators.

Enabling Reliable Characterization of Kv7.2/7.3 Modulators

At Sygnature Discovery, we have established a Kv7.2/7.3 assay designed to support the characterization of compounds targeting this channel complex. The assay captures both channel activation and inhibition, enabling comprehensive assessment of compound activity.

Beyond assay performance, successful ion channel drug discovery often requires complementary technologies that support screening, characterization and translational research. We combine automated electrophysiology, for high-throughput screening and profiling, with manual patch clamp studies that provide gold-standard kinetic and mechanistic insights. These capabilities can be integrated with advanced cellular models and custom assay development to support a broad range of research objectives.

For discovery teams working in ion channel research, the ability to confidently detect multiple modes of pharmacology is essential for compound profiling, mechanism-of-action studies and Structure-Activity Relationship (SAR) investigations. Through the detection of both channel activation and inhibition, our Kv7.2/7.3 assay provides a robust platform for the pharmacological characterization of Kv7 modulators.

Demonstrating Agonist and Antagonist Pharmacology

To evaluate assay suitability, reference modulators were assessed in both agonist and antagonist assay formats. Concentration-response studies with the Kv7.2/7.3 activator ML-213 and inhibitor ML-252 demonstrated clear, concentration-dependent modulation of channel activity (Figure 1).

Concentration-dependent modulation of Kv7.2/7.3 channel activity by the activator ML-213 and inhibitor ML-252, demonstrating robust agonist and antagonist assay performance.
Figure 1. Concentration-response data for ML-213 and ML-252 showing robust modulation.

Reproducibility to Support Drug Discovery Campaigns

To assess longer-term assay robustness, Kv7.2/7.3 performance was evaluated across five separate days (Figure 2). These studies demonstrated consistent assay behavior and reproducible pharmacological responses over time. Long-term stability studies indicate consistent assay performance suitable for SAR-driven optimization.

Long-term reproducibility of the Kv7.2/7.3 assay across five days, showing consistent pharmacological responses and stable EC50 measurements.
Figure 2. Long-term reproducibility across five days demonstrating assay stability.

Interested in Kv7 biology and ion channel drug discovery?

Want to discuss our Kv7.2/7.3 pharmacology capabilities and broader ion channel expertise?

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