Alliance to Develop New Cancer Drugs

A collaboration to discover and develop new drugs for the treatment of cancer based on proteasome inhibition technology has been announced by Novuspharma SpA (Bresso, Italy) and Cephalon, Inc. (West Chester, PA, USA).

Under a three-year agreement, Novuspharma will use its expertise in preclinical research to optimize Cephalon's proeasome inhibitors that exhibit anticancer activity. Discoveries of new compounds will be jointly owned. Initially, clinical candidates will be developed by Novuspharma until proof of concept is achieved in patients. Further development will be jointly supported. Cephalon will retain marketing rights in Japan and the Americas, while Novuspharma will retain European rights.

Proteasome is a naturally occurring cellular complex that regulates the expression and activity of proteins involved in cell cycle progression, cell survival, and tumor growth. Cephalon has identified and developed compounds that specifically inhibit proteasome, which is believed to be involved in certain cancers. Proteasome inhibition induces apoptosis by suppressing NF-kB mediated survival pathways, inhibits the degradation of proteins involved in cell cycle regulation, and increases levels of cell cycle inhibitors.

"By combining Cephalon's lead proteasome inhibitor compound technology with Novuspharma's preclinical and technical capabilities, we will maximize the potential of our oncology drug discovery efforts,” said Dr. Frank Baldino, chairman and CEO of Cephalon.




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