Copenhagen, Denmark, November 4, 2013 / B3C newswire / - Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the commercial arm of Cancer Research UK, and Denmark-based drug discovery company Nuevolution A/S, have signed a collaboration deal to discover anti-cancer drug molecules targeting several key proteins.
The collaboration aims to identify drug leads that block the activity of a number of challenging cancer therapeutic targets. This could lead to the development of first-in-class novel treatments for cancer patients.
Through the partnership, drug candidate molecules which home in on selected targets will be identified by screening millions of diverse small molecules using Nuevolution’s proprietary Chemetics® technology. This uses innovative DNA labelling to enable small molecule drug screening – a method to identify small molecules which bind to a target protein – on an unprecedented scale.
Thomas Franch, CSO of Nuevolution; said: “We are delighted to enter into this collaboration and believe that a strong synergy between the CRT and Nuevolution capabilities will provide for discovery traction on tough-to-drug targets.”
CRT will provide expert information about the biology of the targets through Cancer Research UK’s network of world-class scientists. The first targets have already been approved by CRT and Nuevolution for entry into the collaboration.
In addition, CRT through its internal Discovery Laboratories will provide drug discovery expertise including in-vitro screening assays and cellular activity assays for the target proteins, to select the most promising molecules to develop as potential drugs.
The further pre-clinical development of any promising small molecules identified will form the basis of a separate deal to be agreed in the future between CRT and Nuevolution.
Dr Hamish Ryder, director of drug discovery at CRT’s Discovery Laboratories, said: “This deal is exciting as it will allow us to address a number of “low-tractability” cancer targets, which have proved difficult for ourselves and others to establish a foothold in drug discovery”.
“This important partnership combines CRT’s drug discovery expertise and Cancer Research UK’s strong academic research base with powerful technology from Nuevolution to enable 100s of millions of compounds to be rapidly assessed – which we hope one day will be a starting point for new options for cancer patients and increased survival.”
In its existing collaborations, Nuevolution has successfully addressed several challenging targets including protein-protein interactions by the identification of drug-like small molecules.
About Nuevolution
Nuevolution is a leading small molecule lead discovery company founded in 2001 and based in Copenhagen, Denmark. The company has developed Chemetics®, which represents the ultimate fragment based drug discovery technology. Chemetics® DNA encoded synthesis of up to billions of chemically diverse drug-like small molecule compounds and the efficient screening of these, facilitating the identification of potent drug leads at unprecedented speed and scale.
Nuevolution has demonstrated the power of Chemetics® by identification of highly potent and drug like novel ligands across a range of therapeutic areas and target classes in collaboration with major pharmaceutical companies. Nuevolutions internal programs are focused on therapeutically important targets within inflammation and oncology.
Nuevolution is a privately owned company by key Scandinavian investors, including SEB Venture Capital, Sunstone Capital, Industrifonden, SLS Invest, Novo Ventures and Innoventus Life Sciences.
Chemetics® is a registered trademark of Nuevolution and a patented technology of Nuevolution
About Cancer Research Technology
Cancer Research Technology (CRT) is a specialist commercialisation and development company, which aims to develop new discoveries in cancer research for the benefit of cancer patients. CRT works closely with leading international cancer scientists and their institutes to protect intellectual property arising from their research and to establish links with commercial partners. CRT facilitates the discovery, development and marketing of new cancer therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics and enabling technologies. CRT is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cancer Research UK, the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research.
About Cancer Research UK
- Cancer Research UK is the world’s leading cancer charity dedicated to saving lives through research.
- The charity’s pioneering work into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer has helped save millions of lives.
- Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its life-saving research. Every step it makes towards beating cancer relies on every pound donated.
- Cancer Research UK has been at the heart of the progress that has already seen survival rates in the UK double in the last forty years.
- Cancer Research UK supports research into all aspects of cancer through the work of over 4,000 scientists, doctors and nurses.
- Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to bring forward the day when all cancers are cured.
For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 0300 123 1861 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook
For media enquiries please contact:
For CRT:
Emma Rigby on 020 3469 8300 or, out-of-hours, the duty press officer on 07050 264 059.
For Nuevolution:
Thomas Franch tf@nuevolution.com +45 3913 0922
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