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news.Verastem, a biopharmaceutical company, has entered into research collaboration with Eisai for the next-generation of small molecule Wnt inhibitors.
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The starting point for the development of proprietary analogs in the collaboration is VS-507, a proprietary formulation of salinomycin. Verastem’s Wnt signaling and cancer stem cell assays will be used to test the resulting compounds to estimate their selective activity.
Verastem vice president, research head Jonathan Pachter said the company’s Wnt inhibitor, VS-507, shows activity in multiple cancer stem cell models both in vitro and in human tumor xenografts.
"Through this collaboration with Eisai, a world leader in complex natural product chemistry, we can jointly leverage our unique capabilities to develop the next-generation of Wnt inhibitors for the targeted killing of cancer stem cells," Pachter added.
Under the collaboration, the analogs that are generated in the 12-month collaboration will be owned by Verastem and Eisai will earn royalties on commercial sales of identified products.
Eisai even has a right of first negotiation for products created through the collaboration, during the term of the agreement.
Verastem chief operating officer Robert Forrester said, "We believe Wnt signaling is a critical regulator of cancer stem cells, and a combined research effort to find novel inhibitors of this pathway is of great interest to both Eisai and Verastem."