Third Success from Astex Drug Discovery Pharma Collaboration and Licence Agreements as AstraZeneca Receives US Marketing Approval for Cancer Drug Truqap (capivasertib)
CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Nov. 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Astex Pharmaceuticals (UK), a pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics for oncology and diseases of the central nervous system, announced today that it is in line to receive a milestone payment from AstraZeneca on first commercial sale of the drug in the US and royalties from AstraZeneca on future sales following the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of Truqap™ plus Faslodex® as a treatment for adult patients with HR-positive, HER2-negative locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer with one or more biomarker alterations (PIK3CA, AKT1 or PTEN). Eligible patients will have progressed on at least one endocrine-based regimen in the metastatic setting or experienced recurrence on or within 12 months of completing adjuvant therapy.
- This is the third cancer drug in the last five years to reach market approval that has been discovered and developed under, or subsequent to, an Astex drug discovery collaboration.
- Truqap was discovered by AstraZeneca following an earlier drug discovery research collaboration between Astex, The Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Cancer Research Technology (CRT; now Cancer Research Horizons) that was signed in 2003.
- In 2010, AstraZeneca announced its discovery of Truqap, and began to develop the drug as a potential treatment for various forms of cancer.
- This is also a great example of UK Biotech-Academia-Pharma collaboration and underlines the strength of the UK life sciences ecosystem.”
Graphic of the hat-trick of three marketed cancer drugs discovered and developed under, or subsequent to, an Astex drug discovery collaboration with pharma