Outrun Therapeutics is unlocking the therapeutic potential of protein stabilisation by E3 ligase inhibition to maintain levels of critical proteins that are otherwise destabilised in certain diseases, disrupting the body’s highly sophisticated natural disease suppression processes. Blocking E3 ligase activity enables protein stabilisation “at source” compared to other approaches. It is directly part of the tagging mechanism used by healthy cells to destabilise proteins that are dispensable or mis-formed. Protein stabilisation could be applicable to a wide range of indications, including oncology and neurology. Despite the very high interest in E3 ligases as a therapeutic target, they have been challenging to drug. This is a roadblock that Outrun is addressing through its world class knowledge of E3 ligase biology and its proprietary discovery platform, which simplifies and dramatically scales the assessment of E3 ligase targets, thereby significantly reducing discovery time. Furthermore, the platform’s elegant engineered protein sensor (EPS) screen is enabling Outrun to build a pipeline of highly valuable, small molecule, first-in-class, E3 ligase inhibitors to prevent protein degradation, as well as identify novel E3 ligase targets involved in a range of diseases. Outrun’s lead programme is a small molecule inhibitor targeting an E3 ligase that destabilises a tumour suppressor protein in hard-to-treat solid tumours. Spun out of founder Prof. Satpal Virdee’s lab at the world-renowned MRC Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit at the University of Dundee, Outrun is led by a seasoned management team with a strong track record in creating robust biopharma businesses. It is backed by M Ventures and MP Healthcare Venture Management.