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CRT appoints Director of Discovery

On November 7, 2007 Cancer Research Technology Ltd (CRT), the specialist oncology development and commercialisation company, reported it has recruited Dr Hamish Ryder as its first director of discovery (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, NOV 7, 2007, View Source [SID1234523383]).

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Dr Ryder has more than 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, most recently as director of drug discovery at Almirall. He will lead operations at CRT’s Development Laboratories and oversee the continuing expansion of the staff and facilities. He will report to Dr Keith Blundy, Chief Executive of CRT.

The Development Laboratories are a key feature of CRT’s business, enabling the company to add value to projects in-licensed from its parent organisation, Cancer Research UK, as well as other academic and industry partners. The current expansion plans will see the number of scientific staff double from around 45 to 90 by mid-2009.

Increasing the capacity of the labs will help meet growing demand and, in particular, enable projects to be completed more quickly, ensuring potential therapeutics are developed as soon as possible. It will consolidate CRT’s leading position in translational cancer drug discovery and biotherapeutic development.

Commenting on the appointment, Dr Blundy said: "This is an extremely exciting period of growth for CRT. I’m delighted that Hamish Ryder will be joining us as director of discovery. He has a great depth of experience of drug discovery in several therapeutic areas, including oncology at Xenova, and has successfully reorganised and expanded Almirall’s discovery capability."

In addition to the appointment of Dr Ryder, CRT has created a position of Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) which also reports to Dr Blundy. Dr Clive Stanway, whose previous role included establishing and running the DL, will assume this new role which will involve the strategic development of the entire CRT project portfolio and the assessment of future technologies and project opportunities. He will also liaise with CRT Inc (CRT’s US subsidiary) and Cancer Therapeutics (CRT’s collaborating organisation in Australia) regarding project selection and development.

Dr Stanway said: "I’m sure Hamish will relish the challenge of overseeing the continuing growth of our scientific activities. We expect to generate many new partnering opportunities, providing leading biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with exciting and novel opportunities to supplement their pipelines."

Commenting on his new role, Dr Ryder said: "I’m delighted to be joining CRT at this critical and exciting stage of expansion. CRT provides a unique environment for drug discovery, drawing on world-class basic research funded by Cancer Research UK and having patient need as the sole driver. I’m looking forward to playing my part in building on the excellent team already in place and to contributing to the discovery of new treatments for cancer patients."

Breast Cancer diagnostic markers licensed by Perlegen in agreement with University of Cambrige & CRT

On October 16, 2007 Perlegen Sciences, Inc., The University of Cambridge, Cancer Research Technology Ltd (CRT) and its parent organization, Cancer Research UK, reported that Perlegen has obtained an exclusive commercial license from Cambridge Enterprise Limited, the commercialisation office of Cambridge University, to the breast cancer markers identified through collaborative research between the parties that was previously announced in February, 2005 (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, OCT 16, 2007, View Source [SID1234523384]).

The study identified novel breast cancer susceptibility markers that are present in approximately 20% of UK breast cancer cases. By comparison, previously identified genetic variants, for example in the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, are much rarer, occurring in less than 5% of breast cancer cases.

Although common, these risk alleles (forms of DNA sequence at a specific location) confer somewhat less overall risk than other described markers, doubling breast cancer risk in cases which have two copies of the variants versus those with none.

Pursuant to the terms of the license agreement, Perlegen will commercialize a diagnostic test, either directly or through a sub-license agreement with a third party. Cambridge University and CRT will share in any financial returns. In addition, Cambridge University may provide non-commercial licenses to academic researchers.

The results of the collaboration were published in June 2007 in the scientific journal Nature: "Genome-wide association study identifies novel breast cancer susceptibility loci" by Douglas F. Easton et al. More than one million women are diagnosed annually with breast cancer. The near term diagnostic, and possibly longer term therapeutic, application of these findings could benefit breast cancer patients through improvements in prevention, earlier detection and ultimately treatment of breast cancer.

The study that yielded these markers, the most comprehensive study of breast cancer genetics ever conducted, was based on reading the DNA of over 50,000 women. The samples used in the study were coordinated by the researchers at Cambridge University through a variety of clinical collaborators around the globe. Perlegen genotyped the anonymised samples to determine the genetic variation in each sample. Funding was provided by Cancer Research UK, the parent organization of CRT.

"We are pleased that the collaborative effort between Cambridge University, Perlegen, all those who provided DNA samples to the study, and Cancer Research UK which provided funding support, has led to increased knowledge of the genetic basis of breast cancer," said Prof. Bruce Ponder, Director of the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute, Head of the Department of Oncology, and Co-Director of Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge.

"The next step for this research is to translate our greater understanding of the genetic basis of the disease into new technologies that will directly benefit breast cancer patients," commented Dr. Keith Blundy, Chief Executive Officer of CRT.

"We look forward to further developments in this field, which together with today’s important findings, will hold the promise of improving the health care for the many women with these novel susceptibility genetic markers," said Dr. Bryan Walser, Chief Executive Officer of Perlegen Sciences.

Dr. Iain Thomas, Head of Life Sciences at Cambridge Enterprise Limited added: "One in nine women in the UK will be diagnosed with breast cancer. We hope the results of this study will make an important difference for many of these women. We’re delighted to have entered into this commercial license with Perlegen Sciences."

Vernalis receives milestone payment in Hsp90 inhibitor collaboration

On September 3, 2007 Vernalis plc reported the achievement of a milestone under the company’s joint research and development collaboration with Novartis on the oncology target Hsp90 (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, SEP 3, 2007, View Source [SID1234523385]). The milestone payment was triggered by the start of Phase I clinical trials of a Vernalis compound in a range of solid tumours and liquid cancers.

The Vernalis Hsp90 programme is the result of a collaboration established in March 2002 with CRT and The Institute of Cancer Research, building on studies funded by The ICR, Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust. Under the agreement, Vernalis will pay CRT and The ICR a proportion of its revenues from the agreement with Novartis. The original press release from Vernalis can be viewed here.

Antisoma’s ASA404 lung cancer trial will report positive survival data

On August 22, 2007 Antisoma plc has reported that its single arm phase II trial of ASA404 in non-small cell lung cancer has produced positive final results (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, AUG 22, 2007, View Source [SID1234523386]). In particular, survival data support the findings from an earlier, randomised study in which addition of ASA404 to standard chemotherapy produced one of the largest increases in median survival ever reported in lung cancer.

Findings from the trial will be presented by Dr Mark McKeage of the Auckland Cancer Centre, New Zealand, on 5 September at the World Lung Cancer Conference in Seoul, Korea.

ASA404 (formerly known as AS1404; DMXAA) is a small-molecule vascular disrupting agent which targets the blood vessels that nourish tumours. The drug was discovered by Professors Bruce Baguley and William Denny and their teams at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, University of Auckland, New Zealand, and initially licensed by Cancer Research Technology (CRT) to Antisoma in August 2001. Worldwide rights to the drug were licensed by Antisoma to Novartis AG in April 2007. Novartis plan to start enrolment of patients into a phase III trial in early 2008.

The original press release from Antisoma can be viewed here.

10-Q – Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)]

Advanced Viral Research has filed a 10-Q – Quarterly report [Sections 13 or 15(d)] with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission .