Deal thinks overlooked drug candidates ideal for development
and biotechnology companies team up with a major cancer
organisation to research and develop new anti-cancer drugs has been
unveiled.
The initiative, Clinical Development Partnerships (CDP) is a joint agreement between >Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Technology, and aims to utilise the large pool of molecules that leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies use to select compounds for further development.
The hope is that within this source, molecules, which exhibit anti-cancer properties can be earmarked for further development that ordinarily would be shelved by companies in the selection stage.
The CDP aims to take promising but 'deprioritised' anti-cancer drugs into early stage clinical trials through Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office.
Effectively the charity will 'borrow' a drug from a company and conduct early clinical trials at no cost to the company.
If the drug looks promising, the company retains the option to develop and market the drug, but with the charity receiving a share of any revenues.
"Cancer Research UK has set an ambitious target to double its drug development activity over the next five years and we are seizing an opportunity to seek out new treatments that otherwise might not get developed," said Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research Technology and chief operating officer of Cancer Research UK.
"The drug companies have these potential treatments trapped in their pipelines and we have the expertise and capacity to release this potential. Their drug candidates coupled with our world-class network of trial centres and scientists, offers a perfect partnership to achieve the greatest impact in the global fight against cancer."
The partnership aims to provide a partial alternative to the time-consuming and expensive process that is drug development is. Recent estimates suggest a new anti-cancer drug can take in excess of 10 years and £500 million to develop.
The CDP has stated that a pharmaceutical company would not develop anything that does not look extremely promising.
"This is a simple, rapid and cost-effective way in which pharmaceutical companies can boost their product lines," said Richard Tiner, medical director of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry."
"The pharmaceutical industry is aware that it can't develop all the potential treatments it would like to because of its huge pipelines, so this initiative offers companies a unique opportunity to maximise the value of their shelved assets and develop new treatments for the benefit of cancer patients."
There are many reasons why potential treatments do not make it to market. Science has progressed so rapidly in recent years that there are more compounds available than commercial resources to investigate them.
In addition, blockbuster drugs have raised public expectations for more effective, more powerful treatments, which exhibit minimal side effects.
"Making the leap from something that looks promising in the laboratory to testing it in patients is one of the most challenging steps in drug development," said Alex Markham, chief executive of Cancer Research UK.
"There is a real potential here for us to develop a raft of new anti-cancer drugs. This may include new medicines to tackle the rarer cancers - those that tend to be lower down a business' priority list because they are less profitable. Ultimately we want to increase the number of new treatments for all cancer patients."
