Merck Serono agrees new UK cancer research alliance

Merck Serono has entered into a new research alliance with the UK's Cancer Research Technology and the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London.

The licensing deal will revolve around the creation of anticancer drugs that block the WNT signalling pathway, giving Merck Serono the rights to develop molecules discovered through a recent four-year collaboration between itself, ICR and Cardiff University.

Meanwhile, the partners will also be working on a new two-year collaboration to progress existing compounds towards candidates for clinical trials and discover new molecules, while also identifying biomarkers for target inhibition and patient selection.

Dr Phil L'Huillier, Cancer Research Technology's director of business development, said: "We're bringing together partners from industry and academia with specialist expertise and experience to accelerate the development of exciting new treatments – which, we hope, will one day increase cancer survival."

This comes after it was announced last month that Merck Serono will be allying with Life Technologies on the creation of new companion diagnostic products.