Advanced Cancer Therapeutics (ACT) inked an exclusive agreement with Jason Chesney, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in the department of medicine at the University of Louisville’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center. Dr. Chesney, who signed a two-year contract, will work to identify new clinical candidates against two key cancer metabolic targets for the prevention and treatment the disease.
Dr. Chesney is the second University of Louisville researcher to sign on to work with ACT to accelerate development of its two top programs. John Trent, associate professor in the department of medicine at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, was contracted by the firm in February.
Both researchers will work with ACT to further refine and advance the preclinical candidates and back-up compounds against 6-phosphofructo-2-kinase/fructose-2,6-biphosphatase 3 (PFKFB3) and choline kinase (CK). Drs. Chesney and Trent and two other Brown Cancer Center scientists recently unveiled the role of choline kinase in the survival of tumors. IP covering these discoveries was was licensed to ACT in June 2009.
ACT was founded in 2007 to serve as a conduit for new cancer drugs, technologies, and other therapies developed at the University of Louisville. At the time of its formation, the university owned 30% of the company. In July of this year, ACT reported raising $10 million to advance its portfolio of technologies and product candidates.