Almac Discovery has announced a £13m partnership with the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology (CCRCB) at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB) to accelerate cancer-focused drug discovery in Northern Ireland.
As part of the partnership, Almac has scheduled a Phase 1 trial in ovarian cancer to begin in early 2014 for its ALM201 drug candidate derived from a natural protein discovered by a Queen’s School of Pharmacy research team led by Professor Tracy Robson, and developed by Almac Discovery in Craigavon. It is an anti-angiogenic drug which works by preventing the growth of new blood vessels thereby inhibiting tumour growth.
Almac says ALM201 works by an entirely new mechanism and consequently has the potential to treat a wider range of patients than currently possible, including those resistant to existing therapies.
The three-year Phase 1 trial will be led by Richard Wilson, Director of the Northern Ireland Clinical Trials Unit at Queen’s and managed by Almac Discovery. It will be run from Belfast and two other clinical trial centres in the UK.
Almac has also announced a joint cancer drug discovery programme with CCRCB, which will bring scientists from Almac and researchers from the CCRCB together to translate research discoveries into treatments for patients.
As part of this partnership, Almac’s VP Discovery Chemistry, Professor Tim Harrison has been appointed inaugural McClay Chair of Medicinal Chemistry and will head up the collaborative programme.
Alan Armstrong, CEO of the Almac Group said: 'A team of 17 Almac scientists will be seconded to Queen’s for three years and the combined unit will create a coordinated drug discovery and development pipeline. Resultant products will then continue their development journey with other appropriate partners towards patient-enriched trials and ultimately commercial production.'
