Business
Cancer Drug Collaboration
Cancer Drug Collaboration.
About this update from Sareum Holdings Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n Sareum Holdings PLC\n31 August 2006\n\n\nFor immediate release 31 August 2006\n\n\n\n\n\n SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC\n\n (\"Sareum\" or the \"Company\")\n\n\n\n NOVEL COMPOUNDS DISCOVERED IN CANCER DRUG DISCOVERY COLLABORATION\n\nSareum Holdings plc (AIM: SAR), the specialist structure-based drug discovery\nbusiness, is pleased to announce that substantial progress has been made in its\njoint cancer drug discovery collaboration with The Institute of Cancer Research\n(The Institute), Europe's leading cancer research centre, and Cancer Research\nTechnology Limited (CRT), the oncology-focused development and commercialisation\ncompany. Sareum, The Institute and CRT have discovered novel compound series\nwhich show efficacy in cancer cell models.\n\nThe collaboration, which was announced in July 2005, has discovered several\nnovel compound series that target a specific enzyme in a key biochemical\npathway, responsible for preventing the effectiveness of traditional cancer\ntherapeutics such as chemotherapy. In the collaboration the team is now working\nto fully optimise a leading series of compounds to provide a validated candidate\nto take forward into clinical development. The new cancer therapeutics\ndeveloped will potentially allow effective treatment of tumours which currently\ndo not respond to current treatments as well as lowering the dose required of\nexisting therapies to reduce adverse side effects.\n\nSareum has used its expertise in structure-based drug discovery to identify\nnovel compounds using its innovative Template Screening technology. These\ncompound series have been rapidly progressed utilizing Sareum's high throughput\nmedicinal chemistry and structure determination platforms combined with the drug\nscreening, specialist cancer biology and medicinal chemistry expertise at The\nCancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute.\n\nUnder the terms of the agreement CRT will commercialise the drug candidates\ndeveloped by the collaboration to secure future clinical development. Payments,\nmilestones and royalties received by CRT will be shared with Sareum and The\nInstitute.\n\nCommenting on the agreement, Sareum's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell,\nsaid: \"The quality of the science and technology applied to this collaboration\nhas led to outstanding progress. This demonstrates Sareum's ongoi...