Partnered Products and Programs
Details on the status of the partnered products and programs of Astex Pharmaceuticals™ follow.
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LEE011 – CDK4 inhibitor (Oncology)
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LEE011—CDK4 inhibitor
LEE011, a selective inhibitor of the key cell cycle enzyme CDK4, derives from the collaboration between Novartis and Astex Pharmaceuticals™ announced in December 2005 aimed at developing novel cancer therapies targeting the cell cycle. LEE011 entered phase 1 human clinical trials in January 2011.
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AZD5363 – PKB/Akt inhibitor (Oncology)
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AZD5363—PKB/Akt inhibitor (Oncology)
AZD5363 is an orally active, selective protein kinase B (PKB, also known as Akt) inhibitor derived from a collaborative drug discovery program between AstraZeneca, Astex Pharmaceuticals™, The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT). The program began in 2003 through Astex Pharmaceuticals’ collaboration with ICR and CRT, and AstraZeneca’s collaboration with Astex Pharmaceuticals on a drug discovery program targeting PKB/Akt began in 2005. Inhibition of the PKB/Akt pathway has potential in the treatment of a broad range of tumor types.
In April 2011 AstraZeneca announced that it had commenced a phase 1 study of AZD5363 in patients with advanced solid tumors.
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FGFr inhibitor (Oncology)
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Astex Pharmaceuticals™ and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (a Johnson and Johnson company) 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 Pharmaceutica a worldwide exclusive license to compounds arising from Astex’s novel Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFr) inhibitor program.
Janssen selected a development candidate, which triggered a milestone payment earlier in 2011, prior to the acquisition of Astex Therapeutics Limited. The Company is also eligible to receive additional future milestones during clinical development and royalties on commercialization of approved products derived from the collaboration. The FGFr inhibitor program originated from a collaboration initiated in 2005 with the Cancer Research UK Drug Discovery Group at the Newcastle Cancer Centre (NCC), Northern Institute for Cancer Research, Newcastle University, UK.
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AZDXXXX – BACE inhibitor (Alzheimer’s)
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AZDXXXX—Beta-secretase inhibitor (Alzheimer’s)
Beta-secretase, also called BACE1 (beta-site of amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme) or memapsin-2, is an aspartic-acid protease important in the formation of myelin sheaths in peripheral nerve cells and in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Inhibitors to block the action of this enzyme could prevent the build up of beta-amyloid, which may help slow the progression of, or stop, the disease.
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Multiple targets (Multiple therapeutic areas)
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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 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.
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Partner targets (Oncology)
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Astex Pharmaceuticals™ and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (a Johnson and Johnson company) have entered into a research alliance focused on the research, development and commercialization of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer. Established is a new drug discovery alliance focused on the identification of novel inhibitors against two cancer drug targets.