Why ResQ Biotech
Drug discovery for protein misfolding diseases is a functional problem — not a binding problem.
Decades of effort and over $100B in global investment have produced minimal clinical impact, because conventional approaches identify molecules that bind purified proteins, not molecules that rescue misfolding in living cells. ResQ Biotech has built its platform around three differentiators:
- A next-generation modality. CycloFOLDER™ macrocycles are uniquely suited to stabilize dynamic, intrinsically disordered, and polymorphic protein states that small molecules and biologics cannot reach.
- Discovery driven by functional rescue. The CycloFINDER™ engine selects molecules based on their ability to rescue misfolded conformations in living cells — not on binding affinity to a static target.
- Molecules optimized in biology from day one. Hits emerge already optimized for biological efficacy and translational relevance, compressing the path from discovery to candidate.
By the numbers
Platform
CycloFINDER™
Living-cell drug discovery for protein misfolding diseases
A proprietary discovery engine that biosynthesizes and functionally screens ultra-large libraries of candidate molecules directly in living cells, identifying therapeutics that rescue pathogenic protein conformations. AI-guided design augments hit prioritization and structure–function learning.
How CycloFINDER™ worksCycloFOLDER™
A next-generation therapeutic modality
Ultra-compact, conformationally constrained macrocyclic peptides engineered to modulate disease-relevant protein states previously considered undruggable. CycloFOLDER molecules combine the specificity and safety of biologics with the stability, permeability, and synthetic tunability of small molecules.
How CycloFOLDER™ worksLead program
RSQ-tau
Lead candidate: RSQ-020
A first-in-class CycloFOLDER™ targeting tau for Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies
RSQ-020 acts as a pharmacological chaperone, stabilizing monomeric tau and preventing pathogenic fibril-seeded aggregation. In preclinical studies, RSQ-020:
- Binds to the tau monomer and reduces structural disorder.
- Inhibits tau fibril-seeded aggregation both in vitro and in human cells.
- Disaggregates patient-derived tau fibrils from diseased human brains.
- Restores cognitive function in animal tauopathy models, both preventively and therapeutically.
- Outperforms other advanced clinical candidates with similar mechanism of action in many assays.