Date: 2014-11-07
Type of information: Development agreement
Compound: personalized cancer therapeutics including selective inhibitors of the cancer quiescence target kinase family
Company: Felicitex Therapeutics (USA - MA) Selvita (Poland)
Therapeutic area: Cancer - Oncology
Type agreement: development
Action mechanism:
Disease: pancreatic, colon, ovarian, lung and hematopoietic tumors
Details: * On November 7, 2014, Felicitex Therapeutics, a leader in the diagnostics and development of therapeutics for quiescent cancers, and Selvita, the largest drug discovery company in Central and Eastern Europe, announced that they have entered into a strategic collaboration to develop breakthrough personalized cancer therapeutics for some of the deadliest and most resistant cancers, such as pancreatic, colon, ovarian, lung and hematopoietic tumors.
During the first phase of the collaboration the companies seek to discover and develop selective inhibitors of the cancer quiescence target kinase family, in order to generate multiple novel drug candidates against the quiescent cancer cells. The ultimate aim of the joint project is to deliver clinical candidates for unmet oncology indications. The companies plan joint projects on other targets related to cancer quiescence in the future. Felicitex Therapeutics’ technology targets quiescent, non-responsive cancer cells with two therapeutically beneficial outcomes – firstly making cancer cells vulnerable to conventional treatments, and secondly preventing cancer cells from hiding in the quiescent state for indeterminate period of time and thereby delaying or eliminating cancer recurrence. Selvita is highly experienced in the area drug discovery and particularly in development of kinase inhibitors. Over the last five years, Selvita has built a premium scientific team with one of the world’s most robust kinase inhibitor discovery platforms.
The alliance of Felicitex Therapeutics and Selvita allows to combine Felicitex’s experience in targeting cancer quiescence with Selvita’s significant know how on cancer quiescence target kinases, leading to a potentially breakthrough cooperation and delivery of much needed effective antineoplastic medicines.
As part of the research collaboration Selvita will receive from Felicitex guaranteed research funding and a value share in joint projects which may in future be monetized through milestone payments from Felicitex or a portion of revenues from programs partnered by Felicitex. The first committed research period will be 15 months with an option for Felicitex to extend the collaboration for additional 12 months. Selvita will also receive royalties after the jointly discovered drugs have been approved.
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