On February 6, 2007 Sareum Holdings plc (Sareum) the specialist structure-based drug discovery business, The Institute of Cancer Research (The Institute), Europe’s leading cancer research centre, and Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT), the oncology focused development and commercialisation company, reported that novel small molecule compounds, the subject of a series of patent filings, show activity in targeting Checkpoint Kinase 1 (CHK1) (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, FEB 6, 2007, View Source [SID1234523392]).
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CHK1 is a key component of a biochemical pathway responsible for preventing the effectiveness of traditional cancer therapeutics such as chemotherapy and is the primary target of the joint collaboration. The aim of the programme, first announced in July 2005, is to develop potential cancer treatments with valuable benefits for cancer patients including lower doses of existing therapies, fewer adverse side-effects and efficacy where tumours currently do not respond to chemotherapy. In August 2006 Sareum announced that the collaboration had discovered a novel compound series which showed activity in cancer cell models.
The patent filings are part of an ongoing strategy to secure the intellectual property rights relating to the novel compound series developed from this collaboration, their effectiveness in inhibiting CHK1 function and their use in the treatment of cancer.
Sareum has used its expertise in fragment and structure-based drug discovery to identify novel chemical compounds effective against CHK1. These compound series have been rapidly progressed towards drug candidates utilising Sareum’s high throughput medicinal chemistry and structure determination platforms combined with the drug screening, specialist cancer biology and medicinal chemistry expertise at The Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute.
Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, CRT will commercialise the drug candidates developed by the collaboration to secure future clinical development. Payments, milestones and royalties received by CRT will be shared with Sareum and The Institute.
Commenting on the announcement, Sareum’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Tim Mitchell, said: "The progress of these compounds represents an important milestone in Sareum’s strategy to generate value through our in-house drug discovery. We are now looking forward to advancing our novel chemical series through to clinical candidate nomination."
Professor Paul Workman, Director of The Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at The Institute of Cancer Research, said: "We are very pleased with the progress that has been made so far with this project. By utilising the complementary expertise of each organisation we can speed up the drug development process and bring new treatments to patients as soon as possible."