CRT suggests that alliance could focus on five projects at a time.
AstraZeneca and Cancer Research Technology inked a multiproject three-year collaboration to develop anticancer drugs that target cancer metabolism. A combined team of some 30 scientists will focus on a portfolio of relevant projects selected by CRT from Cancer Research U.K.’s cancer metabolism programs.
Research will be carried out in the U.K. at CRT’s Discovery Laboratories in London and Cambridge and AstraZeneca’s cancer research center near Manchester. AstraZeneca will be responsible for taking the most promising projects into preclinical and clinical development, and CRT will receive milestone payments and royalties.
“Increasing evidence shows that cancer metabolism is an exciting area of research,” comments Keith Blundy, Ph.D., CRT’s CEO. “It’s now clear that cancer cells produce and use oxygen and energy very differently to normal cells, which presents us with an opportunity to find new ways to control these processes. We’re confident that the scale and breadth of this project, which should see us progressing around five projects at any one time, will yield many exciting results in the years to come.”