Overview

Established in 1991 with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease, Algène Biotechnologies Corp. changed its name to SignalGene Inc. and changed its focus to identifying disease-associated genes and validating drug candidates for major human diseases. The company has research programs in obesity, women’s health (breast cancer and osteoporosis), inflammatory disorders (psoriasis) and neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer’s diseases).

The company’s drug discovery platform combines computer-aided drug design with genomics-driven biology and pharmacology to generate novel, highly optimized new chemical entities for development as human therapeutics. The unique combination of drug design and genomics technologies enables SignalGene to accelerate the drug discovery process and to generate drug candidates that have increased chances of clinical success.

SignalGene acquired Nanodesign Inc., a computer-aided drug design company, in May 2000 and GeneScape Inc., a functional genomics company, in March 2000.

SignalGene’s business is divided into two business units: one dedicated to the development of novel small-molecule drug candidates and the other focused on identifying novel genomic markers and drug targets.

Partners

SignalGene collaborates with Laval University in an association study covering 1,000 cases of breast cancer. It also is in collaboration with one of its external scientific directors, Vincent Giguère of McGill University, in the pathology and treatment of breast cancer. And SignalGene scientists are in a technology co-development program with ArQule Inc.