Vernalis receives milestone payment in Hsp90 inhibitor collaboration
Vernalis plc announced the achievement of a milestone under the company's joint research and development collaboration with Novartis on the oncology target Hsp90. The milestone payment of $1.5 million was triggered by the start of Phase I clinical trials of a Vernalis compound in a range of solid tumours and liquid cancers.
The Vernalis Hsp90 programme is the result of a collaboration established in March 2002 with Cancer Research Technology Ltd (CRT) - formerly Cancer Research Ventures Ltd - and The Institute of Cancer Research (The Institute), building on studies funded by The Institute, Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust. Under the agreement Vernalis will pay CRT and The Institute a proportion of its revenues from the agreement with Novartis.
Inhibition of Hsp90 is believed to have significant potential in the treatment of a broad range of cancers. The scientific rationale for Hsp90 as a therapeutic cancer target is based on the hypothesis that many of the signalling proteins that behave aberrantly in cancer cells require Hsp90 as a chaperone molecule to ensure that they are maintained in an active form. In addition, many of the proteins stabilised by Hsp90 are oncoproteins and cell-signalling proteins important in cancer cell proliferation and cancer cell survival. Thus Hsp90, a single molecular target that is a central integrator of multiple pathways important to cancer, is an ideal novel target for oncologic therapy.
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