Drug discovery
Work with us to identify and advance novel approaches with the potential to deliver the next generation of cancer medicines.
CEN-209*, discovered at the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre and exclusively licensed to Centella from UniServices Ltd of New Zealand, is designed to provide benefit when used together with radiotherapy and chemotherapy to treat solid tumours. CEN-209 is the seventh drug candidate to enter Cancer Research UK's Clinical Development Partnerships (CDP) scheme.
CEN-209 has the potential to destroy the areas of tumours which are low in oxygen – or hypoxic. Tumour cells become hypoxic because the blood vessels supplying them with nutrients and oxygen are often weak, twisted and ineffective due to the rapid growth of the tumour.
Cancer cells that are hypoxic are more resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy and often survive such treatment. By destroying the hypoxic part of tumours with CEN-209 in parallel to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, it is hoped that this combination treatment will be more effective.
CDP is a joint initiative between Cancer Research UK’s Drug Development Office and Cancer Research Technology, to develop promising anti-cancer agents from companies that are not able to take them through early phase clinical trials themselves. The CDP scheme allows companies to retain the background rights to their programmes while enabling Cancer Research UK to take on early development work to assess if there is a potential benefit to cancer patients. Two drugs from the CDP initiative are already in early phase trials.
CEN-209 is currently in pre-clinical development. Under the terms of the partnership, Cancer Research UK’s Drug Development Office will complete pre-clinical development of the drug and take it through the first Phase I clinical trial, which will be conducted through the charity’s Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres.
After the Phase I trial Centella will have the exclusive option to buy back the clinical trial data and conduct further clinical studies towards approval of CEN-209. If Centella does not exercise its option, the rights to the programme will be transferred to Cancer Research Technology to secure an alternative partner with the goal of making it possible for the drug to reach cancer patients.
Dr Thorsten Melcher, president of Centella, said: “We are very pleased to work in this public-private partnership with the experts from Cancer Research UK to advance CEN-209. The drug development experience of Cancer Research UK is very well respected and critical to evaluate the potential of CEN-209 for attacking hypoxic tumours for which few effective treatments are available today. Centella is particularly excited to launch this important project that may make radiotherapy even more effective, and to do it in the year that the United Kingdom has dedicated to raising awareness for radiotherapy.”
2011 was launched as the year of radiotherapy to help raise awareness of the treatment and highlight the progress made over the last century**.
Dr Ian Walker, senior licensing manager at Cancer Research UK’s Drug Development Office, said: “Through this exciting partnership, we are taking a completely new drug which could treat a range of cancer types into clinical trials –bringing new hope for thousands of future cancer patients. We hope that the drug will enhance the effectiveness of radiotherapy, which is an incredibly important way to treat cancer as more than 40 per cent of cancer patients in the UK have radiotherapy as part of their treatment. We hope that finding new ways to increase its effectiveness through new drugs – such as CEN-209 – will help improve survival from a range of cancers.”
Dr Nigel Blackburn, director of drug development at Cancer Research UK’s Drug Development Office, said: “The further development of this drug may not have been possible without the CDP initiative – which shows how we work with industry to develop new treatments – and we hope to continue to develop partnerships with the ultimate aim to license new treatments.”
Notes to Editors
* CEN-209 was rationally designed and preclinically validated as an improved analogue of the hypoxia-targeted prodrug tirapazamine.
Year of radiotherapy Marie Curie won her second Nobel Prize for her work on radium in 1911 - exactly 100 years ago – and was a leading pioneer in radiation as a cancer therapy. 2011 was launched as the year of radiotherapy to help raise awareness of the treatment and highlight the progress made over the last century.
The awareness initiative is being coordinated by the National Radiotherapy Awareness Initiative - a group of organisations who are working to improve awareness of, and access to, radiotherapy services. Members include: The Royal College of Radiologists, The Society and College of Radiographers, Cancer Research UK, the Institute of Physics & Engineering in Medicine (IPEM), the NHS and representatives from all UK countries.
Clinical Development Partnerships (CDP)CDP is a joint initiative between Cancer Research UK’s Drug Development Office and Cancer Research Technology. It aims to increase the number of successful new treatments for cancer by taking undeveloped anti-cancer agents from industry and putting them into clinical trials.
The initiative is targeted at leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies which have a large pool of molecules that may have anti-cancer properties. However, these companies have to prioritise which agents they take into clinical development - this leaves potentially effective treatments on pharmaceutical companies' shelves.CDP will take promising but 'deprioritised' anti-cancer drugs into early stage clinical trials through Cancer Research UK's highly experienced Drug Development Office. Effectively the charity will 'borrow' a drug from a company and conduct early clinical trials at no upfront cost to the company. If the drug looks promising, the company retains the option to develop and market the drug, but with the charity receiving a share of any future revenues.
About Cancer Research UK's Drug Development Office
Cancer Research UK has an impressive record of developing novel treatments for cancer. It currently has a portfolio of around 36 new anti-cancer agents in preclinical development, phase I or early phase II clinical trials. Since 1982, the Cancer Research UK Drug Development Office has taken over 100 potential new anti-cancer agents into clinical trials in patients, five of which have made it to market and many others are still in clinical development. These include Temozolomide, a drug discovered by Cancer Research UK scientists, that is an effective new treatment for brain cancer. Six other drugs are in late development phase III trials. This rate of success is comparable to that of any pharmaceutical company.
About Centella Therapeutics
Centella Therapeutics, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Varian Medical Systems, Inc. (Varian). Varian, headquartered globally in Palo Alto, California, is the world's leading manufacturer of medical devices and software for treating cancer and other medical conditions with radiotherapy. Centella is a dedicated enterprise focused on discovery and development of cancer treatments at the intersection of radiotherapy and pharmaceutical therapeutics. Centella’s mission is to develop a portfolio of drugs with a focus on enhancing the effectiveness of radiotherapy, making Centella the first Radiation Oncology Biotechnology company.
Centella is the exclusive licensee of CEN-209 and related technology from Auckland Uniservices Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of University of Auckland, located in Auckland, New Zealand. In the licensing transaction with Centella, UniServices acted on behalf of the Auckland Cancer Society Research Centre, an operating unit of the University.
About the ECMC network
Cancer Research UK and the Departments of Health in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland launched a network of 19 Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres (ECMC) across the UK in April 2007, in a £35 million, five-year investment. Each ECMC brings together lab-based experts in cancer biology with cancer doctors to speed up the flow of ideas from the lab bench to the patient’s bedside. Find out more at www.ecmcnetwork.org.uk
