On October 12, 2004 Medical Solutions plc, (‘MLS’) the supplier of services for drug developers and healthcare providers, reported that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Cancer Research Technology Ltd (‘CRT’), to enhance the speed and reliability of early cancer drug development(Press release, Cancer Research Technology, OCT 12, 2004, View Source [SID1234523445]).
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CRT, is the technology transfer and development company of Cancer Research UK, Britain’s leading independent cancer research organisation.
Developing validated biomarkers to assess the response of a patient to a drug is now the critical step in drug development. MLS will use this exciting link to create a unique toolkit for their drug development service.
MLS will screen and assess a carefully selected sub-set of CRT’s monoclonal antibody panel to identify potential tissue biomarkers that will provide an indication as to the effectiveness of specific anti-cancer drugs.
There are currently in excess of 500 drugs in development for cancer with another 1,500 in late stage discovery. It is estimated that early phase biomarker driven clinical studies cost $20 million per drug so creating a global potential market of $40 billion for such services.
The intellectual property rights for any reagent will remain with CRT, and MLS will act as a joint partner in subsequent commercialisation for use in both drug development and in the creation of a novel diagnostic.
Harpal Kumar, CEO of CRT said: ‘We are delighted to be working with Medical Solutions. They have the necessary expertise to identify novel biomarkers to speed up the whole process of getting new drugs to patients’
Professor Karol Sikora, Scientific Director of MLS welcomed the agreement: ‘We are entering uncharted territory with the advent of molecularly targeted drugs. It is now vital to understand how to get the right drug to the right patient. CRT has an excellent panel of antibodies – an ideal starting point to create novel tissue diagnostics in an era of personalised medicine for cancer. For tomorrow’s patients the diagnostic is going to be as important as the treatment.’