In December 2003, Array partnered the oncology portion of its MEK program, including its lead compound, ARRY-142886, for co-development and commercialization with AstraZeneca.
MEK is a critical enzyme at the intersection of several biological pathways, which regulates cell proliferation and survival as part of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway.
Constitutive activation of the Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK pathway has been implicated in many cancers, including lung, pancreatic, colon, melanoma and thyroid caused by cancer-associated, mutational activation of bRAF and Ras proteins.
MEK inhibition is an attractive anticancer strategy as it has the potential to block inappropriate signal transduction regardless of the upstream position of the oncogenic aberration.
AstraZeneca has recently been attempting to boost its pipeline with a number of similar licensing deals for investigational compounds.