Rime is revolutionizing inflammation and immunology drug discovery by targeting protein-protein interactions (PPIs), which are crucial in inflammatory responses. Their unique function-first platform uses large peptide libraries in high-throughput phenotypic screens to identify and validate novel PPI targets and deliver peptide hits with built-in structure-activity relationships. This approach accelerates small molecule drug development by inherently linking target druggability with pharmacological action, differentiating Rime from existing discovery platforms. With proven de-risked methodology and a strong team, Rime aims to advance new therapies in inflammation and immunology and expand into other therapeutic areas through strategic partnerships.
What is the problem?
A few well-established targets have dominated development in inflammation and immunology for years, despite decades of challenges in efficacy, tolerability, and convenience. New therapies that target the underlying biology of disease are needed to overcome the limitations of current therapies. Inflammatory responses are driven by signalling cascades mediated by protein-protein interactions (PPIs). Small molecule inhibition of peptide-mediated PPIs is increasingly becoming derisked by an ever growing list of PPI inhibitors in clinical development, and represents a rich untapped target space for exploitation. However, two key challenges remain to unlock PPI inhibition at scale; (1) finding the best PPI to target to drive clinical efficacy and, (2) accelerating the pharmacological development of PPI inhibitors. We have no technology to functionally probe PPIs and complex pathway biology at scale until now.
What is their solution?
Rime’s function-first target and hit discovery platform unlocks PPIs at scale. (1) We deploy large libraries of PPI disrupting peptides in high-throughput phenotypic screens to functionally “knock-out” PPIs upstream of disease phenotypes. Our libraries are enriched in evolutionarily refined sequences to disrupt PPIs in a broad range of biological processes. Using emerging computational tools, we are expanding our library by mining the disordered proteome. (2) Our platform identifies biologically and clinically relevant targets and functionally associated pockets. Since our phenotypic perturbation correlates with pharmacological action, target druggability and tractability are inherent to the screen. We are leveraging advanced computational tools and biochemical approaches to rapidly identify target proteins. (3) Beyond identifying a target, our platform also delivers a peptide hit with built-in SAR, serving as a complementary pharmacophore and tool compound to accelerate small molecule development.
