AstraZeneca has agreed a two-year collaboration with the University of Cambridge and Cancer Research UK on three pre-clinical and clinical oncology projects.
The projects aim to advance cancer research through the study of tumour mutations and new investigational therapies in prostate, pancreatic and potentially other cancers.
The collaboration follows AstraZeneca's recent announcement that by 2016 its new UK-based global research and development centre and corporate headquarters will be located at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. This alliance will bring together scientists from AstraZeneca's small molecule and MedImmune's biologics units and researchers across the region from the University, affiliated Institutes and the NHS, all of which are members of the Cambridge Cancer Centre.
The projects involve working with the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and the University of Cambridge Department of Oncology to evaluate a new technology that will allow clinicians to monitor the activity of a tumour – including its progression, response to therapy and the onset of drug resistance – through blood tests and without the need for biopsies. Based on the Cambridge Institute's pioneering techniques and AstraZeneca's treatment expertise, the aim of the collaboration is to use the tumour DNA present in a patient's blood to understand better the genetic makeup of their cancer and therefore the right therapy to tackle it.
It is fitting that the focus of these collaborations is on delivering new medicines for cancer
AstraZeneca will also work with the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, the University of Cambridge Department of Oncology at Addenbrooke's Hospital and Cambridge University Hospitals to test the potential effectiveness of the firm’s investigational therapies olaparib and AZD2014 in high-risk prostate cancer patients who currently have a poor disease prognosis. The compounds will be tested in both pre-clinical models and early-phase clinical trials.
In the third project, AstraZeneca will work with the Babraham Institute, the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute and the University of Cambridge Department of Oncology at Addenbrooke's Hospital to evaluate new therapeutic approaches for patients with pancreatic cancer. This collaboration will focus on identifying the best drug combinations for AstraZeneca's investigational compound selumetinib in pre-clinical models.
‘These are the first research collaborations AstraZeneca has established with Cambridge-based partners since announcing our intention to build a strategic research and development centre on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus,’ said Susan Galbraith, Head of AstraZeneca's Oncology Innovative Medicines Unit.
‘It is fitting that the focus of these collaborations is on delivering new medicines for cancer because our Cambridge facility will become AstraZeneca's largest centre for oncology research.
‘All three of the collaborations we are announcing today advance our work in the area of personalised healthcare, helping us to understand and address the underlying mechanisms of disease so that we can find the right medicines for the right patients.’