Partner Article

Liverpool pharma company secures Canadian anti-cancer deal

Liverpool-based firm Redx Pharma has signed a deal with Canadian company Pharmascience, which will give them the rights to develop a promising anti-cancer programme.

Research will be carried out by Redx’s spin-out business, Redx Oncology, which only launched in April last year.

The firm secured a licensed to work on the program, which helps the immune system fight cancer by focusing on small molecules that inhibit a specific receptor, which is vital to the body’s response to cancer.

The receptor, called CFS-1R or cFMS, influences how the immune system interacts with cancer cells and how quickly the cancer can spread.

Redx’s license with Pharmascience will allow them to research, develop and commercialise the programme, which is currently at the lead optimisation stage.

Dr Neil Murray, chief executive of Redx Pharma, said: “We’re delighted to have reached this agreement with Pharmascience.

“Helping the immune system to effectively deal with and target cancer cells is an extremely exciting emerging area of science and the cFMS oncology program we have licensed has demonstrated the ability to inhibit tumour growth in animal models.

“By in-licensing this program we are able to both enter this important emerging area of cancer research and advance our overall stage of development as a company.”

Director of business development and strategic planning of Pharmascience, Dr. Mathieu Boudreau, added: “Our discovery research team has identified very promising cFMS inhibitor leads and we strongly believe the Redx research team is well positioned to continue the work we have initiated on this project.

“We strongly believe that continued success in our industry will arise through such collaborations and shared efforts.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .