Tuesday 16 March 2010
Physiomics, the Oxford-based systems biology company, and Sareum Holdings plc are pleased to announce that they have signed an agreement in which Physiomics provides in silico simulations to support Sareum’s cancer drug joint research program with The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) and Cancer Research Technology Limited (CRT).
Physiomics will use its modelling expertise in biological processes to simulate the effects of cancer drugs in living systems. The research programme will focus on finalising dose schedules for a research program compound in combination with a marketed chemotherapeutic. This work will take approximately three months to complete, and will be funded from the proceeds of a commercial deal for the molecule.
Dr Christophe Chassagnole, COO of Physiomics, said: “We are extremely pleased to start a research collaboration with such renowned partners in the field of cancer research. Our growing list of partners is a testimony to the potential of our technology to answer a key question in cancer drug development: How to find the optimal drug schedule and combination.”
Professor Paul Workman, Director of the Cancer Research UK Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at the ICR, said: “We are delighted to be working with Physiomics to combine their technology with our drug discovery expertise. This collaboration supports the ICR’s overall strategy of working in partnership with other leading organisations to accelerate the delivery of new and more effective drugs to cancer patients.”
Dr Tim Mitchell, CEO of Sareum, said: “We are very pleased to be working with Physiomics and expect their expertise will provide us with a superior drug dose schedule and add extra value to the programme licensing package.”
-ENDS-
Media Contact: Physiomics COO Dr Christophe Chassagnole on +44 (0)1865 784980 or Katy Mitchell from WH Ireland Limited on +44 (0)161 832 2174
The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR)
- The ICR is Europe’s leading cancer research centre
- The ICR has been ranked the UK’s top academic research centre, based on the results of the Higher Education Funding Council’s Research Assessment Exercise
- The ICR works closely with partner The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust to ensure patients immediately benefit from new research. Together the two organisations form the largest comprehensive cancer centre in Europe
- The ICR has charitable status and relies on voluntary income, spending 95 pence in every pound of total income directly on research
- As a college of the University of London, the ICR also provides postgraduate higher education of international distinction
- Over its 100-year history, the ICR’s achievements include identifying the potential link between smoking and lung cancer which was subsequently confirmed, discovering that DNA damage is the basic cause of cancer and isolating more cancer-related genes than any other organisation in the world
- The ICR is home to the world’s leading academic drug development team. Several important anti-cancer drugs used worldwide were synthesised at the ICR and it has discovered an average of two preclinical candidates each year over the past five years.
For more information please visit www.icr.ac.uk
Physiomics plc
Physiomics (AIM:PYC) is a computational systems biology services company applying simulations of cell behaviour to drug development to reduce the high attrition rates of clinical trials. As 80-90 per cent of all clinical drug candidates fail to reach the market, estimates1 show that an overall ten per cent improvement in success rates could reduce the cost of one drug's development by as much as $242 million, from the current estimate of around $800 million.
Physiomics develops computational systems biology models to predict and understand cancer drug efficacy from pre-clinical research to clinical development. Physiomics has created detailed mathematical models incorporating the most important molecular events taking place during the human cell cycle and apoptosis processes. The company’s SystemCell® technology enables the simulation of populations of "virtual cells". The models are used to optimise compound design, as well as to design drug schedules and combination therapies. Physiomics, based in Oxford, UK, was founded in 2001, and floated on AIM in 2004.
For further information, please visit www.physiomics-plc.com
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.
For more information please visit www.cancertechnology.co.uk
Sareum Holdings plc
Sareum is a drug discovery company, headquartered in Cambridge UK, that is focused on producing targeted small molecule therapeutics to address unmet medical needs, primarily in cancer. Sareum aims to successfully deliver drug candidates for licensing to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the pre-clinical or early clinical trials stage. Sareum Holdings plc joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2004, trading under the symbol SAR.
For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk