Reata is a leader in the discovery of new drugs to correct protein misfolding

Protein Folding

Reata is a leader in the discovery of small molecule disease modifying drugs that function by stabilizing the normal three-dimensional structure of target proteins.

Reata Founding Scientist Dr. Philip J. Thomas of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas was a pioneer in establishing the link between protein folding and genetic disease. In recent years, protein folding has become an important emerging area of science and, as predicted, it has become widely accepted that defects in protein folding underly a large number of intractable diseases including cancer, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease), Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and cystic fibrosis.

Deep insights into the process of how proteins fold and what goes wrong with misfolded proteins led Dr. Thomas and his lab to develop a proprietary technology for identifying small molecule drugs that can stabilize proteins in the proper three-dimensional structure and, thus, have a significant impact on diseases associated with protein misfolding. Reata licensed this technology and has deployed it to identify new drug candidates for its target diseases. The first drug candidate to emerge from this work, RTA 801 for the treatment of ALS, is currently undergoing preclinical development. Additional discovery programs are underway for other biological targets affecting other neurodegenerative diseases as well as cancer and cystic fibrosis.