Corporate Partnerships

Sharing a common passion for the discovery, development and commercialization of novel therapies, we have collaborated with many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.

  • AstraZeneca
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    Astex Pharmaceuticals™ has completed the research phase of a collaboration and license agreement with AstraZeneca relating to the discovery of novel drugs against protein kinase B, a key target within a biochemical pathway that gives rise to resistance to many commonly used anticancer drugs. Under this agreement AstraZeneca selected a clinical candidate, AZD5363, in January 2010, and started clinical trials of AZD5363 in April 2011. A second compound, AT13148, was also derived from this program and is completing preclinical development in collaboration with Cancer Research UK. Astex Pharmaceuticals retains all commercial rights for this compound.

    Astex Pharmaceuticals and AstraZeneca also have an agreement relating to the discovery of novel drugs against a key protein target, beta-secretase, implicated in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease. In June 2011 AstraZeneca began a phase 1 study of AZD3839 in Alzheimer's disease.

  • Eisai
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    Astex Pharmaceuticals™ entered in a license agreement with Eisai Co. Ltd for DACOGEN® (decitabine) for Injection through Eisai’s acquisition of MGI Pharma. Eisai maintains the Dacogen franchise within North America and manages the rest of world sublicense with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson. Eisai markets Dacogen for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and has applied for marketing authorization for the treatment of elderly acute myeloid leukemia in the United States. Astex Pharmaceuticals receives a significant royalty on global Dacogen sales regardless of territory, seller or medical indication.

  • gsk
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    Astex Pharmaceuticals™ and GlaxoSmithKline have entered into a collaboration agreement to discover, develop and commercialize novel compounds directed against multiple therapeutic targets of interest to GSK. Under the collaboration, Astex Pharmaceuticals will apply its world-leading fragment chemistry platform, Pyramid™, to multiple targets identified by GSK, with the objective of identifying and developing new candidate drugs. The targets have been selected from multiple therapeutic areas within GSK. To date Astex Pharmaceuticals has achieved multiple discovery stage milestones in connection with the program.

  • Janssen
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    Astex Pharmaceuticals™ and Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a pharmaceutical company of Johnson & Johnson, have entered into a research alliance focused on the research, development and commercialization of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer. The agreement grants Janssen Pharmaceuticals a worldwide exclusive license to compounds arising from Astex Pharmaceuticals’ novel FGFr inhibitor program. The parties also established a new drug discovery alliance focused on the identification of novel inhibitors against two cancer drug targets.

    Janssen Pharmaceuticals also holds an outside of North America sublicense with Eisai Co. Ltd for DACOGEN® (decitabine) for Injection.

  • Novartis
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    Astex Pharmaceuticals™ and Novartis have a strategic licensing and drug discovery alliance focused on the research, development and commercialization of novel cell cycle control drugs for the treatment of cancer and other diseases. Novartis started human clinical trials on a selective cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4) inhibitor, LEE011, discovered under the collaboration, in January 2011.