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CRT and Cancer Research UK establish Lipid Metabolism Research Team

On September 29, 2011 Cancer Research Technology (CRT) – Cancer Research UK’s commercial arm – reported it has established a group of scientists with expertise in lipid metabolism – getting energy from fats and making building blocks for cell growth – to develop targets for potential new cancer drugs (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, SEP 29, 2011, View Source [SID1234523320]).

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Five world-class research groups will collaborate on an initial two-year research project. They will study dependency of cancer cells on enzymes involved in lipid metabolism to develop future drug discovery and development programmes. The groups will receive a total of £600,000 over two years, jointly funded by Cancer Research UK and AstraZeneca.

The groups are led by: Professor Eyal Gottlieb at Cancer Research UK’s Beatson Institute; Dr Almut Schulze at Cancer Research UK’s London Research Institute; Professor Adrian Harris at The University of Oxford; Professor Eric Aboagye at Imperial College London and Professor Michael Wakelam at The Babraham Institute.

An increase in lipid production is an important characteristic of cancer. A cell must replicate its DNA and double in size in order to divide. And rapidly-dividing cells require large amounts of construction materials – fats, proteins and nucleic acids – as well as having huge energy demands.

But tumour cells, which have poorly developed blood vessels, only receive a restricted supply of the nutrients they need. So, to meet the demand for energy and construction materials, cancer cells have developed a remarkably different way of generating energy compared with healthy cells.

The research groups will prove the importance of lipidomic enzymes – proteins which generate fats – as new therapeutic targets*. They will use genetic approaches to block the unique metabolism fuelling the uncontrolled growth and spread of cancer cells.

Dr Keith Blundy, chief executive of CRT, said: "Drugs that can selectively target metabolism are likely to delay, if not stop disease spread.

"This specialist consortium of hand-picked experts will use the latest imaging and analytical techniques to develop ways to block the unique lipid metabolism found in cancer cells. We hope the discoveries from this work will contribute to the development of drugs to increase survival from cancer."

Professor Eyal Gottlieb, head of apoptosis and tumour metabolism at Cancer Research UK’s Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, said: "The role of metabolism in driving the growth, division and spread of cancer cells can’t be overstated.

"Cancer cells have developed different routes to generate energy and increase their size. But, the detail of this isn’t yet well understood. It’s incredibly exciting to be working alongside other experts in this important field to decipher the unusual ways tumours produce their power supply – and add pace to the development of future drugs to block these processes."

AstraZeneca will partner with the collaboration to commercialise discoveries through its existing three-year Tumour Metabolism Alliance with CRT.**
Susan Galbraith, vice president and head of oncology innovative medicines at AstraZeneca, said: "The collaboration with Cancer Research UK and CRT represents an exciting opportunity for AstraZeneca to work with some of the leading UK scientists in cancer lipid metabolism. Importantly, the collaboration builds on the effective partnership already in place between AstraZeneca and CRT aimed at developing novel therapies that exploit cancer metabolism. We are very pleased to now extend this relationship with the anticipation of validating novel cancer targets."

Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK’s chief executive, said: "Our research, funded entirely by the generosity of the public, has contributed to the progress that’s seeing survival rates from cancer continuing to increase. But there’s more to be done. Cancer still causes one in four deaths each year and we urgently need to find new effective treatments.

"This incredibly important collaboration of world-class scientists which unites our expertise with support from industry partners will unravel the mystery of how cancer cells meet their huge energy demands. This knowledge will pave the way for scientists to develop more treatments to help more people beat cancer."

(Filing, 10-K, Myrexis, SEP 13, 2011, View Source [SID:1234506937])

EISAI TO ACCELERATE LATE-STAGE CLINICAL DEVELOPMENT OF
NEW DRUGS BY EFFECTIVELY LEVERAGING EXTERNAL RESOURCES

On September 7, 2011 Eisai reported that it has entered into a collaborative development agreement with SFJ Pharma Ltd. ("SFJ"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of SFJ Pharmaceuticals, LP., II in an effort to further accelerate the late-stage clinical development of its new drug pipeline by effectively leveraging external financial resources (Press release Eisai, SEP 7, 2011, View Source [SID:1234500286]).
With a rich late-stage clinical pipeline, Eisai will effectively leverage internal resources as well as build a new partnership scheme under which it accepts funding from external parties to conduct pivotal Phase III studies for promising new drug candidates in order to push forward with numerous development programs simultaneously and as quickly as possible.
As part of this partnership scheme, Eisai has entered into a collaborative development agreement with SFJ to conduct Phase III studies with E7080 (lenvatinib) in thyroid cancer. Under this agreement, these late-stage studies will be conducted by Eisai and wholly funded by SFJ, with Eisai paying SFJ milestone payments only if E7080 obtains regulatory approval. If and when the compound is approved, all commercial rights shall remain with Eisai.

CRT’S DISCOVERY LABORATORY AUTOTAXIN PROGRAMME PROGRESSES TO LEAD OPTIMISATION

On September 1, 2011 CRT reported small molecule inhibitors of Autotaxin (ATX) have been discovered using an HTS approach and are currently undergoing lead optimisation (Press release, Cancer Research Technology, DEC 15, 2011, View Source [SID1234523522]). ATX cleaves choline from lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) forming lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), a potent mitogen that has been implicated in the pathophysiology of cancer. ATX has been demonstrated to increase cell motility, neovascularization, proliferation and aggressiveness of tumours. It is upregulated in numerous tumour lineages (breast, glioblastoma, ovarian and prostate cancer).

Valeant Pharmaceuticals Announces All-Cash Offer to Acquire Afexa Life Sciences Inc.

On August 30, 2011 Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc. ("Valeant") (NYSE/TSX:VRX), announced today that it has agreed to acquire Afexa Life Sciences Inc. (TSX:FXA) for approximately C$76 million (Press release, Valeant, AUG 30, 2011, http://ir.valeant.com/news-releases/2011/30-08-2011 [SID:1234511552]). Afexa, a health-science company headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, currently markets several consumer brands, such as COLD-FX and COLDSORE FX(TM), and has annual revenues of approximately C$40 million.
"We are pleased to have the full support of Afexa’s management team and board of directors for a transaction that we believe should deliver significant benefits to our customers, employees and shareholders," stated J. Michael Pearson, chairman and chief executive officer. "Afexa’s strong franchise of consumer brands, including COLD-FX, Canada’s leading over the counter (OTC) cold and flu treatment, will be a solid addition to our developing OTC product portfolio in Canada. Afexa’s product line, combined with our portfolio from VitalScience, including dermaglow, and our recent Canadian launch of CeraVe, will provide the critical mass we need in the OTC market and should provide Valeant Canada with another platform for growth."
Under the terms of the agreement, holders of Afexa Common Shares will receive C$0.71 in cash per Common Share, which represents a premium of approximately 30% to Afexa’s 30-trading day volume weighted average closing price on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) and a premium of 49% over the closing price the day before the announcement of the unsolicited bid of Paladin Labs Inc. The agreement also represents a premium of 29% to the cash consideration and a 49% premium to the alternative share consideration offered under Paladin Labs Inc. unsolicited bid (based on Paladin’s closing share price on the TSX on August 29, 2011).
The board of directors of Afexa, after receiving the unanimous recommendation of the special committee of the board of directors, has approved the agreement and unanimously recommends that Afexa’s shareholders tender their Common Shares. The Afexa board of directors has received a fairness opinion from its financial advisor stating that the consideration to be received is fair from a financial point of view to the shareholders of Afexa. In addition, Valeant has entered into lock-up agreements with directors and officers of Afexa pursuant to which such directors and officers have agreed to tender all Common Shares held by them, representing in the aggregate 8.8% of the outstanding Common Shares on a fully-diluted basis.
Full details of the offer will be included in a take-over bid circular which is expected to be mailed to holders of Common Shares by September 9, 2011. The offer will be open for acceptance for a period of not less than 35 days and is subject to a number of customary conditions, including there being deposited under the offer and not withdrawn at the expiration of the offer such number of Common Shares that represent at least 66-2/3% of the outstanding Common Shares calculated on a fully-diluted basis, there being no material adverse changes to Afexa’s business and the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals. Pursuant to the agreement, Afexa has agreed to waive the application of the shareholder rights plans to the offer and to take no action to waive the application of the shareholder rights plans to any other acquisition proposal.
Stikeman Elliott LLP is acting as legal counsel to Valeant.