Product Engine for a Sustainable Pipeline

Vitae was founded with the goal of accelerating and improving the innovation in small molecule discovery, specifically, creating and operationalizing a paradigm breakthrough in structure-based drug design technology. This unique and proprietary discovery tool leverages and enhances the abilities of Vitae's world class team of scientists. Using CONTOUR™, Vitae's accomplished team is able to improve the quality and innovativeness of the compounds they discover, and shorten the time required to advance those compounds to the clinic.

Unique Components of Vitae's Product Engine

Vitae's product engine has unique components that contribute to our ability to generate a sustainable product pipeline, including:

• CONTOUR™ proprietary technology platform that includes proprietary computational drug design, high-performance computing, structural biology, and other key technologies, all tightly integrated with traditional medicinal chemistry and biology functions.



• Core assets, expertise and know how in key areas for discovering novel compounds, including: enzyme inhibitors, aspartic proteases, nuclear receptors, and kinases.
  
  

Applying Vitae's Product Engine

Vitae's drug discovery process is focused on well validated targets that address clear unmet medical needs. Biological targets are chosen based on validation in human studies or through compelling pre-clinical biology. We build upon available knowledge by applying our advanced technologies to develop compounds with superior properties that offer unique value to patients. Through this approach, Vitae's product engine is designed to both maximize clinical success and increase discovery productivity.

Enzyme Targets

Vitae has developed a critical mass of core assets and know how in several robust areas for discovering novel compounds, including aspartyl proteases, kinases and other enzymes. This discovery approach has been applied successfully to the historically difficult aspartyl protease, renin. Renin has been a target of high interest and effort within the pharmaceutical industry for the past thirty years as a key target in the management of hypertension and protection of end-organs. Despite industry wide efforts over three decades, the search for suitable orally available small molecules to inhibit this enzyme has largely been unsuccessful until very recently. Using CONTOUR™, Vitae, in less than twelve months, designed multiple classes of novel, subnanomolar inhibitors that are orally available and efficacious. We are extending the application of our expertise to other difficult, high value, well validated enzyme targets.

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