| Dundee-based biopharmaceutical company Cyclacel has announced an important new licensing deal with a biotechnology company in Canada, writes Ian Findlay, industrial reporter.
The new deal will see the Scottish company carry forward, under licence from its new North American partner, Lorus of Toronto, the development of an oral anti-cancer drug code-named CYC381, which is currently in pre-clinical development.
The agreement has been hailed as significant, not just in relation to the potential of the new drug, but also for what it represents in terms of the growing recognition being given internationally to Cyclacel’s abilities in the field.
“We are very pleased with this new agreement,” Cyclacel’s finance director Paul McBarron told the Evening Telegraph today.
“Lorus have recognised that we have expertise in the area of cell cycle and cancer and can develop their drug and develop the product going forward.”
Mr McBarron said that it was “early days” in the development of CYC381 and it would probably be at least 18 months before any clinical trials could be set in motion. However, the drug was seen as having potential.
“As significant for us is the fact that a company outside Scotland and the UK sees Cyclacel as being the partner to carry such a project forward,” he added.
“It also sits nicely with the other programmes we have in the pipeline. For us it looks very promising.”
CYC381 appears to work by a cell-related mechanism arresting cancer cells in a particular phase of the cell cycle and its development has resulted from scientists at Harvard identifying compounds of the commonly used anti-fungal drug clotrimazole as having potential anti-cancer activity.
Cyclacel now has exclusive worldwide rights to CYC381 and the Canadian drug appears to offer the potential to link with other anti-cancer compounds being developed by Cyclacel which themselves offer the potential to arrest cancer cells at other phases of the cell cycle.
Under the terms of the new agreement, Lorus will receive an upfront fee from Cyclacel, what are termed “milestone” payments if the development of CYC381 produces the hoped-for results, and royalties on product sales, if the drug goes on to reach the marketplace.
Lorus chief executive Dr Jim Wright said his company had been looking for a partner that could provide world class cell cycle biology and a proven track record of advancing novel compounds into the clinic.
“Cyclacel and its science team, led by Professor David Lane, is an excellent match with these criteria,” he added. |
