Company Profile

Phenex Pharmaceuticals AG was founded in 2002 and is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Phenex is a privately financed biotechnology company focussing on novel drug candidates that act on Nuclear Receptors, a pharmacologically well accepted drug target class.

Nuclear Receptors are ligand-activated transcription factors which usually show a broad pharmacological impact at the expense of a high level of unwanted side effects. Preferred Nuclear Receptor ligands are therefore selective and partial modulators, so called SNuRMs (Selective Nuclear Receptor Modulators) that retain the intended pharmacological effect whereas unwanted side effects are minimized. Until now, no rational approach to discover such selective and partial modulators or SNuRMs has been available for collaborative research in drug discovery. Adressing this unmet discovery need, Phenex has established a specific rationale, the SNuRM® Approach, that allows now for the first time a directed search for selective and partial modulators with a desired profile. The technological basis for this approach is based on a worldwide unmatched set of Nuclear Receptor clones and assays, the NR Resource.

Phenex is offering its resources and capabilities in the field of Nuclear Receptors to customers within the pharmaceutical industry under its business unit Discovery Services, ranging from contract screening services up to integrated research collaborations. You will find in Phenex a reliable partner for Nuclear Receptor drug discovery. Our references encompass more than 25 international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in Europe, Japan and North America.

Phenex itself pursues currently three proprietary drug discovery programs on the emerging drug targets FXR, LXR and ERRα. The focus here is on metabolic, gastrointestinal and other severe indications where currently no or insufficient treatment is available. Phenex intends to partner these programs with pharmaceutical companies at the drug candidate / animal model proof-of-concept stage.