CRT and AstraZeneca form major alliance to create 'cancer metabolism' drugs
London, February 7th, 2010 ---Cancer Research UK’s commercialisation and development arm, Cancer Research Technology (CRT), today announced it has teamed up with biopharmaceutical business, AstraZeneca in a major, multi-project alliance, in which around 30 scientists will be focused on creating a stream of new anti-cancer drugs, it is announced today (Sunday).
The three-year alliance will work on a portfolio of projects carefully selected by CRT from Cancer Research UK’s portfolio of biological research in the emerging field of cancer metabolism.
Cancer metabolism research seeks to explain why cancer cells use energy differently to normal cells in order to survive and grow, particularly under the conditions of nutrient and hypoxic stress faced by rapidly growing tumours. New drugs that control a cell’s metabolism could attack an “Achilles heel” of the tumour whilst sparing normal tissues.
The alliance team will work at CRT’s Discovery Laboratories in London and Cambridge, and AstraZeneca’s cancer research centre near Manchester. They will seek to develop small molecules which attempt to target the changes to a cell’s metabolism – attempting to deprive cancer cells of the nutrients they need to grow and survive.
AstraZeneca will take the most promising projects forward into pre-clinical and clinical drug development - through an innovative model for sharing the risks and potential rewards in creating new anti-cancer treatments. CRT will receive milestone payments and royalties on the projects that AstraZeneca take into clinical development.
Dr Keith Blundy, chief executive of CRT said: “We’re thrilled to be entering this alliance with AstraZeneca which has extensive capability in the late drug discovery and development stages and a long history in oncology. It’s a major milestone in the development of CRT’s Discovery Laboratories which have been created to advance early stage cancer discoveries to a point where they are attractive to commercial collaborators.”
“Increasing evidence shows that cancer metabolism is an exciting area of research. It’s now clear that cells produce and use oxygen and energy very differently to normal cells, which presents us with an opportunity to find new ways to control these processes. We’re confident that the scale and breadth of this project – which should see us progressing around five projects at any one time - will yield many exciting results in the years to come.”
Dr Les Hughes, Global Vice President of Cancer Research at AstraZeneca, said: This deal with CRT will enable us to speed up research in this exciting area by pairing AstraZeneca’s drug discovery and development capabilities with CRT’s expertise in indentifying and progressing new targets selected from Cancer Research UK’s basic research portfolio. We look forward to this collaboration adding a new dimension to our hunt for new and innovative cancer treatments."
Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: “This important and innovative deal between CRT and AstraZeneca is great news for Cancer Research UK, and for cancer patients. The next generation of cancer treatments will be targeted to specific biological mechanisms that are fundamentally different between cancer and normal cells. Cancer metabolism is one such area and this alliance recognises the global excellence of Cancer Research UK’s expertise in uncovering these important mechanisms. It’s going to vastly improve and expand our knowledge, enabling a team of talented scientists to come together to find new drugs.
“Investing in partnership with pharmaceutical companies in the discovery and development of new cancer drugs will help us to accelerate progress towards our goal of finding new treatments for cancer patients. We hope this alliance will result in a number of new weapons in our fight to beat cancer.”
ENDS
For media enquiries, please contact Josie Gray in the Cancer Research Technology press office on 020 7061 8309 or, out of hours, the duty press officer on 07050 264 059.
You can watch a video interview with Dr Keith Blundy here.
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Notes to Editors:
About Cancer Research Technology
Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) is a specialist commercialisation and development company, which aims to develop new discoveries in cancer research for the benefit of cancer patients. CRT works closely with leading international cancer scientists and their institutes to protect intellectual property arising from their research and to establish links with commercial partners. CRT facilitates the discovery, development and marketing of new cancer therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics and enabling technologies. CRT is wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world.
About Cancer Research Technology’s (CRT) Discovery Laboratories
CRT's Drug Discovery Laboratories are based in London, and Cambridge. The Laboratories build on basic cancer research to create attractive commercial opportunities through collaboration with research institutes worldwide. Therapeutic candidates are then licensed for further development following identification of a suitable partner.
Cancer Research UK
• Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK's vision is to beat cancer.
• Cancer Research UK carries out world-class research to improve understanding of the disease and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer.
• Cancer Research UK ensures that its findings are used to improve the lives of all cancer patients.
• Cancer Research UK helps people to understand cancer, the progress that is being made and the choices each person can make.
• Cancer Research UK works in partnership with others to achieve the greatest impact in the global fight against cancer.
For further information about Cancer Research UK's work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 020 7009 8820 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org.uk.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of meaningful prescription medicines and supplier for healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world´s leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of US $32.8 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infectious disease medicines. For more information about AstraZeneca, please visit: www.astrazeneca.com
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