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Stealthyx Therapeutics and Cancer Research Technology Announce Co-development Partnership for Tumour-targeted Therapy
London, UK, 15 February 2006 - Cancer Research Technology (CRT), the specialist oncology development and commercialisation company, and Stealthyx Therapeutics, the disease targeting drug company spin out of Queen Mary, University of London have entered into an agreement to co-develop Stealthyx’s proprietary drug delivery platform, Prothyx™. The Prothyx™ platform adds extra functionality to therapeutic molecules making them preferentially active at sites of disease. Localising a drug’s activity only to the diseased tissue promises to minimise adverse side effects on other tissues and may enable higher doses of drugs to be given less frequently.
Under the terms of the agreement, CRT has obtained worldwide exclusive rights to develop and commercialise the Prothyx™ platform within the field of oncology and will perform in-house development of candidate Prothyx™-based anti-cancer therapies. Stealthyx will exploit developments arising from the program in other therapeutic areas including rheumatoid arthritis.
Phil L’Huillier, Director of Business Management at CRT, said “In-licensing of promising technologies from commercial parties to accelerate the development of novel cancer therapies highlights our continued commitment to the realisation of cancer patient benefit.”
Professor Yuti Chernajovsky, Founder of Stealthyx Therapeutics and ARC Chair of Rheumatology at Queen Mary, University of London, said “CRT’s co-development support for Prothyx™ endorses the important potential of our technology in cancer, where there are great opportunities to improve patients’ clinical outcomes, and minimise the distressing side effects of some cancer treatments. I look forward to working with our partners to help bring safer medicines to the market.”
ENDS
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Notes to editors
About Cancer Research Technology Limited
Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT) is a specialist commercialisation and development company, which aims to develop new discoveries in cancer research for the benefit of cancer patients. CRT works closely with leading international cancer scientists and their institutes to protect intellectual property arising from their research and to establish links with commercial partners. CRT facilitates the discovery, development and marketing of new cancer therapeutics, vaccines, diagnostics and enabling technologies. CRT is wholly owned by Cancer Research UK, the largest independent funder of cancer research in the world. Further information about CRT can be found at www.cancertechnology.com.
About Cancer Research UK
Cancer Research UK is Europe's leading cancer charity, dedicated to research into the causes, prevention and treatment of cancer. The charity supports the work of 3,000 scientists, doctors and nurses in over 80 academic centres across the UK, with an annual scientific spend of more than £217 million. Cancer Research UK is the European leader in the development of novel anti-cancer treatments; from their discovery at the laboratory bench to early clinical trials in cancer patients. Further information about Cancer Research UK can be found at www.cancerresearchuk.org.
About Stealthyx Therapeutics Limited
Stealthyx Therapeutics Limited was founded in 2002 to commercialise the novel Prothyx™ technology platform that was discovered by Prof Yuti Chernajovsky at Queen Mary, University of London. Stealthyx Therapeutics has received seed funding from Kinetique Biomedical Seed Fund, and a Wellcome Trust Translational award to develop the technology to the proof of concept stage. Further information can be found at www.stealthyx.com.
About Queen Mary, University of London
Queen Mary is one of the largest Colleges in the University of London. The College currently has over 10,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, with an academic and support staff of around 2600. It is organised into the four faculties of Arts; Engineering and Mathematical Sciences; Law and Social Sciences; and Natural Sciences, and Barts and The London, Queen Mary's School of Medicine and Dentistry. It is a research university, with over 80% of research staff working in departments where research is of international or national excellence (RAE 2001). It has a strong international reputation, with over 20 per cent of students coming from over 100 countries.
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