Three-way collaboration to identify and develop inhibitors of the HSP90 chaperone proteins as potential anti-cancer drugs
RiboTargets, a pharmaceutical research company, Cancer Research Ventures (CRV), a cancer technology transfer company, and the Institute of Cancer Research have announced a collaboration to identify and develop inhibitors of the HSP90 'chaperone' family as potential anti-cancer drugs. Oncogenic proteins are responsible for uncontrolled cell division - a characteristic of tumour growth in cancer.
Chaperone proteins, such as HSP90, are of particular interest in anti-cancer drug development because they ensure these oncogenic proteins remain in the correct shape to function.
The Institute of Cancer Research has extensive experience working on chaperone proteins and has identified some compounds which inhibit HSP90's activity using its in-house assays.
Paul Workman and Laurence Pearl have led the research in this area at the Institute.
Funding for this work has come from Cancer Research UK, the Institute of Cancer Research, and Wellcome Trust.
Under the terms of the collaboration, the Institute of Cancer Research will continue to evaluate the inhibitors of HSP90 and continue to provide the expertise in the biology of HSP90 and the pre-clinical and clinical trials necessary for drug development. RiboTargets will provide chemistry and structure-based design capability to identify new inhibitors and, going forward, will manage the emerging intellectual property and take responsibility for development and commercialisation of any products that arise from the collaboration.
Significant resources will be employed at both RiboTargets and the Institute of Cancer Research as part of this collaboration.
Financial details have not been disclosed. Commenting on the collaboration, Susan Bright, director of the Enterprise Unit at the Institute of Cancer Research, said: "For over five years, the Institute of Cancer Research has been researching the role of HSP90 proteins in cancer and we will be using our capability to translate this research into a drug discovery programme.
RiboTargets has developed a powerful drug identification technology and will provide the development and commercial expertise to translate our scientific work into new agents that will inhibit the growth of tumours.
We look forward to using our expertise alongside RiboTargets." Guy Wood-Gush, chief executive of CRV, added: "This deal demonstrates CRV's central role in the commercialisation of new innovative cancer therapies.
Through its close association with Cancer Research UK, the Institute of Cancer Research, and other leading research institutions around the world, CRV is able to facilitate the development of many novel cancer related technologies, so bringing benefit to cancer patients." Simon Sturge, chief executive of RiboTargets, commented: "This collaboration marks RiboTargets's entry into the oncology arena and we are delighted to be working with two of the world's leading cancer research organisations.
In particular, the Institute of Cancer Research and Cancer Research UK have the experience in conducting clinical trials with novel anti-cancer therapies which will be invaluable to the collaboration.
We also believe that this collaboration validates the general applicability of our technology and highlights the role that structure-based design can play in the identification and development of new drugs."
