AstraZeneca and PTC agree oncology collaboration

AstraZeneca has entered into a new alliance with PTC Therapeutics that will focus on the discovery and development of cancer therapies.

A research collaboration and license agreement has been signed that will allow AstraZeneca to utilise PTC's proprietary GEMS technology, in exchange for an upfront payment and future milestone-based sums.

GEMS allows for the discovery of drugs that alter the expression of specific proteins by targeting regulatory mechanisms and could provide a new approach to drug discovery, which is vital given the relative failure of classical methods in this field.

The research will initially be focused on oncology but also includes an option for AstraZeneca to pursue up to eight targets across different therapeutic areas.

Dr Susan Galbraith, vice-president and head of the oncology innovative medicines research unit at AstraZeneca, said: "PTC's RNA biology expertise and the uniqueness of the GEMS technology are complementary to our internal efforts."

In May 2011, the company announced a new alliance with Heptares Therapeutics to conduct research into treatments based on G-protein coupled receptors, which could be applied to areas such as cardiovascular/metabolic and inflammatory disorders.