CRUK Enters Agreement To Fund Blood Cancer Trials

Cancer Research UK together with its commercial arm Cancer Research Technology announced that it has entered into agreement with Leukemia & Lymphoma Research to fund early stage clinical trials investigating drug candidates for blood cancer.

As part of the agreement, the partners will support Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials of new drugs targeting leukemias, lymphomas, and myeloma, among other blood cancers. Leukemia & Lymphoma Research will provide access to new drug candidates as well as financial support for CRUK to further develop the treatments through preclinical to Phase 2 development. An estimated 5 clinical trials will be jointly funded by the two groups over the course of five years.

“We are at an exciting period in blood cancer research, with our scientists identifying more treatment targets and developing more drugs than ever before. The infrastructure and know-how exchanged by working together with Cancer Research UK will enable this initiative to give patients access to potentially life-saving breakthroughs sooner,” said Professor Chris Bunce, research director at Leukemia & Lymphoma Research.

The clinical trials will be managed and conducted by CRUK’s Centre for Drug Development through the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) network at hospitals across the U.K. CRT will take the lead for further clinical and commercial development of joint projects and will also be responsible for the equal distribution of revenues from marketed drugs.

Dr. Nigel Blackburn, director of CRUK’s Centre for Drug Development, said, “Bringing together Cancer Research UK’s cutting-edge facilities and expertise, with Leukemia & Lymphoma Research’s high quality research is an exciting prospect that we hope will bring promising new treatments to patients with blood cancer sooner.”

Last month, CRUK and CRT established a five-year collaboration with AstraZeneca and MedImmune to build a new joint laboratory in Cambridge for the development of biologic cancer drugs.