Newcastle University in deal with AstraZeneca company KuDOS

Licensing | Funding

Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT), the commercialisation arm of the charity Cancer Research UK, has licensed the rights to its DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) inhibitor programme to KuDOS Pharmaceuticals Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of AstraZeneca.

The research is based at Newcastle University and the deal will see significant extra investment into the programme for the further development of drugs that inhibit DNA-PK.

DNA-PK plays a key role in the cellular repair-response to DNA damage caused by chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments, and its activity often means treatments are less effective. Finding drugs that inhibit DNA repair could lead to better outcomes.  Results from earlier work at Newcastle show DNA-PK inhibitors could increase the efficacy of current chemotherapy and radiotherapy regimes.

As part of the tw- year collaboration agreement, KuDOS has exercised an earlier option to a portfolio of intellectual property. The company will also receive a worldwide licence to develop the intellectual property arising from the continuing programme.

Niall Martin, head of KuDOS, said the agreement, “Builds on a very effective research collaboration we have had for a number of years with the Newcastle group. As part of this agreement, we will invest in three more full-time posts in Newcastle which will be dedicated to the project.” Further backing from Cancer Research UK and Newcastle University, in addition to ongoing work in KuDOS and AstraZeneca, will lead to an expansion of the programme.

Phil L’Huillier, CRT’s director of business management, said, “It’s very exciting to combine efforts with commercial partners to progress early stage scientific discoveries such as DNA-PK.”

CRT was instrumental in the formation of KuDOS, which was created to commercialise research funded by the charity that was carried out by Steve Jackson at Cambridge University.