Technology Overview

This is Taiwan’s first PROTAC-based drug discovery platform, designed to target and degrade disease-causing proteins, overcoming drug resistance and enabling breakthrough therapies. Using this technology, ITRI developed a novel AR/AR-V7 protein degrader for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). It simultaneously degrades both AR and AR-V7 proteins in cancer cells and has demonstrated strong tumor inhibition in two drug-resistant animal models. The platform is expandable for other target proteins and disease areas and is available for licensing to the pharmaceutical industry for new drug development.

Technical Superiority

1. PROTAC technology not only inhibits target activity but also degrades disease-causing proteins, enabling lower drug doses and reduced side effects.

2. First drug design targeting AR-V7 for castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), overcoming therapeutic resistance.

3. The ITRI-PROTAC Toolbox (featuring customizable linker–E3 ligase ligand combinations) enhances solubility, permeability, drug exposure, and tumor targeting, and can be extended to other therapeutic targets.

Application

1. Undruggable targets

2. Overcomes drug resistance

3. Applications in cancer and rare diseases