Alchemia licenses two anticancer drug candidates from CTx

The preclinical Focal Adhesion Kinase (FAK) inhibitors originate from the Australian Cancer Therapeutics CRC (CTx).

According to the companies the two licenses include fees, milestones and royalty payments.

Alchemia chief scientific officer Tracey Brown said the company is seeking to evaluate these new molecules and their effect on the tumor environment and cancer stem cells that are essential for the growth, persistence and reoccurrence of cancer.

"We plan to use our established oncology and cancer stem cell models to evaluate the potential clinical benefits of the drugs in vivo prior to initiating further IND enabling studies," Brown said.

FAK is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase which plays a major role in the development and spread of several malignancies.

Inhibition of FAK has the potential to provide several therapeutic benefits to cancer patients by disrupting tumor development and metastasis, while overcoming chemo-resistance to a broad variety of currently used cytotoxic drugs.

Via these combined therapeutic effects, FAK inhibitors have the potential to treat a range of cancers and are expected to provide a long lasting clinical response and improved patient outcomes.

Alchemia CEO Thomas Liquard said the company is happy about the in-licensing of these two novel compounds as it will allow its Melbourne-based oncology research team to further evaluate and advance these assets.

"CRT has a stellar reputation for scientific innovation and we are proud that CRT/CTx selected Alchemia to progress these FAK inhibitors," Liquard said.

CTx chief executive officer Warwick Tong said the company has funded under the Australian CRC program to bridge the gap between excellent Australian research and the discovery of new drugs based on that research.

"We are excited to see the first drug candidates from our novel pipeline move towards the next stage of their development in the hands of one of Australia’s leading innovative biotech companies," Tong said.