On June 9, 2008 Astex Therapeutics Limited ("Astex") reported that Astex and Janssen Pharmaceutica have entered into a research alliance focused on the research, development and commercialisation of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer (Press release, Astex Pharmaceuticals, JUN 9, 2008, View Source [SID1234535125]). The new agreement grants Janssen Pharmaceutica a worldwide exclusive license to compounds arising from Astex’s novel FGFR inhibitor programme, and the parties are also to establish a new drug discovery alliance focused on the identification of novel inhibitors against a further two cancer drug targets. The highly selective FGFR inhibitors were discovered using Astex’s proprietary fragment-based drug discovery platform, Pyramid, which will also be employed to drive the new drug discovery programme. Since 2004 Astex has used Pyramid to generate one new cancer drug candidate for clinical development each year.

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Under the terms of the agreement, Ortho Biotech Research & Development, the research and development arm of Janssen Pharmaceutica, will be responsible for completing all of the pre-clinical and clinical development of all products arising from the collaboration and for their commercialisation globally. The agreement also grants Astex an option to co-commercialise FGFR products developed under the collaboration in the USA.

The agreement provides for an upfront payment and equity investment in Astex, plus committed research funding, totalling $37.4 million over a two year period, as well as downstream development and regulatory milestones relating to all three programmes. Astex will also receive tiered, double digit, royalties on sales of FGFR inhibitor products discovered and developed under the collaboration and additional royalties on new products generated under the other research programmes. Total payments under the collaboration, excluding royalties, could be worth over $500 million to Astex, assuming one product from each programme is successfully commercialised in all territories.

Harren Jhoti, Chief Executive Officer of Astex Therapeutics, said, "This is another landmark agreement for Astex, and we are delighted to be working with one of the global leaders in oncology drug development on this discovery alliance. This partnership is another testament to Astex’s position as the leader in fragment-based drug discovery and the productivity generated by our platform."

On May 28, 2008 DRAXIS Health Inc. ("DRAXIS") reported the completion of the statutory arrangement under which all of DRAXIS’ common shares have been acquired by an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Jubilant Organosys Ltd for US$6.00 per common share (Press release, Draxis Health, MAY 28, 2008, View Source [SID:1234510741]). As a result, DRAXIS common stock is expected to cease trading on the NASDAQ Global Market and on the Toronto Stock Exchange at market close on Thursday, May 29, 2008, and will no longer be listed on these stock exchanges.

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Payment of the cash consideration will be made by Computershare Investor Services.

DRAXIS shareholders who possess physical stock certificates have received instructions and a letter of transmittal by mail from Computershare Investor Services concerning how and where to forward their certificates for payment. For shares held in "street name" by a broker, bank or other nominee, shareholders will not need to take any action to have shares converted into cash, as this will be carried out by the broker, bank or other nominee. Questions about the payment of proceeds should be directed to the appropriate broker, bank or other nominee.

On May 21, 2008 Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, reported that Cancer Research Technology (CRT) has purchased 2,000 Maybridge Fragments as the foundation of its new fragment screening library(Press release, Cancer Research Technology, MAY 21, 2008, View Source [SID1234523378]). Wholly owned by the internationally renowned charity, Cancer Research UK, CRT is a specialist oncology-focused development and commercialisation company. Selected for its high quality, the Maybridge Fragment Collection will be used in CRT’s established Discovery Laboratories in London and Cambridge, for fragment-based screening, a key technology to accelerate the identification of drug leads against novel cancer targets.

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"Having reviewed several vendor catalogues with a focus on fragment collections for a discrete selection of heterocyclic small molecules with suitable properties, we ultimately chose the Maybridge Fragment Collection due to its superior overall fit to our requirements," explained Dr. Martin Swarbrick, Group Leader, Medicinal Chemistry, at CRT. "A good fit to ‘Rule-of-Three’ principles for physicochemical properties was essential, as well as lead-likeness and ‘drug-ability’."

Other key features of the Maybridge Fragment collection that influenced the CRT selection process include its high compound purity and chemical diversity, which is supported by related synthons elsewhere in the Maybridge catalogue. The availability of related building blocks featuring the same fragments from Maybridge stock facilitates the rapid construction of a library around chosen core fragments for hit-to-lead work and further optimisation.

"Other factors in our decision to purchase the Maybridge Fragment selection were their immediate and reliable availability for prompt follow up work, as well as the favourable pricing," added Swarbrick.

"We are very proud to have been selected by such an eminent cancer technology transfer company due to the quality, diversity and flexibility of our Fragment Collection," said Dr.Mick Durrant, Director of Business Development for Maybridge products at Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We pride ourselves on our choice of off-the-shelf collections and the ability to pick from our carefully selected fragment lists. This enables our customers to create their own bespoke libraries, giving them both convenience and complete control over their fragment screening programmes to ultimately accelerate lead generation."

The Maybridge Fragment collection is a convenient source of pre-selected, high quality building blocks which is a distillation of Maybridge’s combined expertise in heterocyclic compound design. Over 30,000 compounds have been assembled to form a pool from which researchers can build their own customised fragment libraries. This collection has been selected for purity, low molecular weight and absence of inappropriate functionality. All compounds are easily re-supplied and available custom weighed in mgs or µmols.

Many of the Maybridge Fragments are fully "Rule-of-Three" compliant, which means that the physicochemical properties of these fragments are optimal; therefore increasing the probability of future "hit" successes. Consequently, Maybridge Fragments provide an ideal starting point for a lead optimisation drug discovery programme and the ultimate evolution of a new molecule in the drug discovery process.

On May 21, 2008 Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in serving science, reported that Cancer Research Technology (CRT) has purchased 2,000 Maybridge Fragments as the foundation of its new fragment screening library (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, MAY 21, 2008, View Source [SID1234523531]). Wholly owned by the internationally renowned charity, Cancer Research UK, CRT is a specialist oncology-focused development and commercialisation company. Selected for its high quality, the Maybridge Fragment Collection will be used in CRT’s established Discovery Laboratories in London and Cambridge, for fragment-based screening, a key technology to accelerate the identification of drug leads against novel cancer targets.

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Early/Late Stage Pipeline Development - Target Scouting - Clinical Biomarkers - Indication Selection & Expansion - BD&L Contacts - Conference Reports - Combinatorial Drug Settings - Companion Diagnostics - Drug Repositioning - First-in-class Analysis - Competitive Analysis - Deals & Licensing

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"Having reviewed several vendor catalogues with a focus on fragment collections for a discrete selection of heterocyclic small molecules with suitable properties, we ultimately chose the Maybridge Fragment Collection due to its superior overall fit to our requirements," explained Dr. Martin Swarbrick, Group Leader, Medicinal Chemistry, at CRT. "A good fit to ‘Rule-of-Three’ principles for physicochemical properties was essential, as well as lead-likeness and ‘drug-ability’."

Other key features of the Maybridge Fragment collection that influenced the CRT selection process include its high compound purity and chemical diversity, which is supported by related synthons elsewhere in the Maybridge catalogue. The availability of related building blocks featuring the same fragments from Maybridge stock facilitates the rapid construction of a library around chosen core fragments for hit-to-lead work and further optimisation.

"Other factors in our decision to purchase the Maybridge Fragment selection were their immediate and reliable availability for prompt follow up work, as well as the favourable pricing," added Swarbrick.

"We are very proud to have been selected by such an eminent cancer technology transfer company due to the quality, diversity and flexibility of our Fragment Collection," said Dr.Mick Durrant, Director of Business Development for Maybridge products at Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We pride ourselves on our choice of off-the-shelf collections and the ability to pick from our carefully selected fragment lists. This enables our customers to create their own bespoke libraries, giving them both convenience and complete control over their fragment screening programmes to ultimately accelerate lead generation."

The Maybridge Fragment collection is a convenient source of pre-selected, high quality building blocks which is a distillation of Maybridge’s combined expertise in heterocyclic compound design. Over 30,000 compounds have been assembled to form a pool from which researchers can build their own customised fragment libraries. This collection has been selected for purity, low molecular weight and absence of inappropriate functionality. All compounds are easily re-supplied and available custom weighed in mgs or µmols.

Many of the Maybridge Fragments are fully "Rule-of-Three" compliant, which means that the physicochemical properties of these fragments are optimal; therefore increasing the probability of future "hit" successes. Consequently, Maybridge Fragments provide an ideal starting point for a lead optimisation drug discovery programme and the ultimate evolution of a new molecule in the drug discovery process.

On May 15, 2008 Cancer Research Technology Ltd (CRT), the specialist oncology development and commercialisation company, reported the opening of a drug discovery laboratory in Cambridge, adding to Cancer Research UK’s strong presence in the region (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, MAY 15, 2008, View Source [SID1234523532]).

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CRT Cambridge will house around 25 medicinal chemists, biochemists and biologists in its building off Coldham’s Lane – conveniently located for access to the University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK’s Cambridge Research Institute – with space for significant further expansion.

This is the first multi-disciplinary Discovery Laboratory for CRT to be established outside the main London laboratory at UCL’s Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research. In addition, small CRT laboratory groups are also being established at Cancer Research UK’s existing institutes in Manchester and Glasgow. This follows the placement of CRT knowledge transfer managers in these locations to be closer to the science and the scientists.

CRT’s Discovery Laboratories build on Cancer Research UK’s investment in world-class research, identifying potential novel therapies based on the cancer targets identified and validated in academia.

The need for expansion is driven by the successful progression of ground-breaking cancer discovery projects from early stage through to more resource intensive later stage projects. The expansion is also testament to the number of projects initiated on the back of discoveries arising from basic research funded by CRT’s parent charity, Cancer Research UK, and other partners throughout Europe and the US.

Dr Hamish Ryder, recently appointed to the role of Director of Discovery at CRT, said: "We’re delighted to be opening this unique drug discovery resource in Cambridge. It will help us to meet growing demand and enable projects to be completed more quickly, ensuring potential therapies are identified and progressed efficiently. We also hope to create many new partnerships with leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies to supplement their drug development pipelines."

The announcement comes ahead of CRT’s presence at BIO2008, the world’s largest biotech conference, taking place in San Diego, USA, where CRT will launch partnering activities related to several exciting programmes from CRT’s laboratories.

CRT’s Discovery Laboratories execute both small molecule and biotherapeutic projects. Staff are drawn from academia and industry – and both communities will benefit from the expansion of these laboratories. CRT Cambridge consolidates CRT’s leading global position in translational drug discovery and biotherapeutic development.

Dr Keith Blundy, CEO of CRT, said: "The opening of CRT Cambridge forms part of our five-year expansion plan, which aims to locate CRT research staff close to or within major Cancer Research UK Institutes. We hope this exciting period of development will increase integration of basic and applied research, and ultimately benefit patients."