The collaboration, which leverages Astex’s fragment-based drug discovery platform, will focus on discovering and developing drug candidates targeting an undisclosed epigenetic target in a blood cancer.
Astex president Harren Jhoti said the partnership builds on the successful collaboration which Astex entered into with the ICR and CRT in 2003 on another cancer target, PKB/Akt.
"That collaboration led to the discovery of two clinical candidates, the first of which, AZD5363, was taken into Phase I by our partner AstraZeneca in early 2011 and the second of which, AT13148, is being prepared to be taken into Phase 1 under our development partnership with Cancer Research UK," Jhoti added.
CRT business management director Dr Phil L’Huillier said, "The deal will ensure that the research programme benefits from the necessary investment to progress the research to its full potential while building on the validation and assay development work that has been carried out at the ICR and funded by Cancer Research UK and others.