AstraZeneca announces cancer alliance with Pharmacyclics and Janssen

AstraZeneca is to collaborate with Pharmacyclics and Janssen to evaluate potentially promising new combination therapies for cancer.

The company will work alongside its new partners to evaluate novel combination therapies targeting solid tumours and a number of haematological cancers.

Imbruvica, an oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor from Pharmacyclics and Janssen, will be assessed in combination with AstraZeneca's anti-PD-L1 antibody MEDI4736, while separate combinations of two different AstraZeneca PI3 kinase pathway inhibitors will also be tested alongside Imbruvica.

Preclinical evidence suggests that the combination of Imbruvica with these investigational medicines may enhance their effects.

Briggs Morrison, executive vice-president for global medicines development and chief medical officer at AstraZeneca, said the announcement underlines the firm's belief "that combination therapies have the potential to be one of the most effective ways of treating cancer".

This comes after the firm announced a new collaboration with Lilly to develop a potentially promising new therapy for Alzheimer's disease earlier this year.