AstraZeneca and Senectus to collaborate on cancer cell research

AstraZeneca has agreed to collaborate with Senectus Therapeutics on new research into the ageing process of cancer cells.

The agreement will see a Senectus consortium, including scientists from Cancer Research UK, screening a selection of chemical compounds from AstraZeneca's library in order to find potential drug development targets.

Research will be centred on the process of senescence, a biological function that sees cell growth and division kept in check via a sleep function, but one that is circumvented by cancer cells.

It is hoped that by finding compounds that can trigger this process among cancerous cells, new ways of treating the disease could be uncovered.

Dr Paul Elvin, principal scientist at AstraZeneca, said: "Collaboration with Senectus complements their knowledge base and experimental platform with well-characterised molecules that will provide insight into the nature of some key drivers of senescence."

This comes after the firm announced earlier this week that it will also be working with Sage Bionetworks to create cancer therapies based on advanced computational models.