Kinaxo and Daiichi Sankyo in cancer drug development collaboration

1 Oct 2010

Your browser does not support inline frames or is currently configured not to display inline frames. German biotechnology company Kinaxo Biotechnologies GmbH has signed a long-term partnership agreement with Japanese company Daiichi Sankyo Company Limited to develop cancer drugs.

Under the agreement, Daiichi Sankyo will employ Kinaxo’s technology platform to support the development of Daiichi Sankyo’s targeted cancer drugs. This will involve Kinaxo applying its proprietary chemical proteomics technologies Cellular Target Profiling and KinAffinity as well as its phosphoproteomics technology PhosphoScout within various research programs pursued at Daiichi Sankyo. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

Cellular Target Profiling and KinAffinity use a combination of proprietary chemical proteomics and quantitative mass spectrometry technologies to identify a small molecule’s native cellular targets from biological samples.

PhosphoScout is a global, quantitative phosphoproteomics service tailored to dissect cellular signal transduction pathways and their response to drug treatment. PhosphoScout is applicable to both small molecules and antibodies.

Axel Ullrich, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry in Martinsried and Kinaxo Board member commented: “To promote innovation in cancer therapy we need to better understand how targeted drugs interfere with de-regulated signaling in human malignancies. To this end, Kinaxo has established a unique technology platform that allows comprehensive analysis of cancer signal transduction processes and their response to drug treatment. I am convinced that these innovative technologies will significantly contribute to the development of tomorrow’s cancer therapeutics.”

Andreas Jenne, Kinaxo’s CEO added: “We are excited and pleased to partner with Daiichi Sankyo to support their endeavour in developing novel medicines for cancer patients.”

Earlier this week Daiichi Sankyo announced that it will launch its Inavir dry powder inhaler in Japan on 19 October for treatment of flu and that it had been listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Asia Pacific. The index tracks the financial performance of the leading sustainability-driven companies worldwide, evaluating them thorough analysis of corporate economic, environmental and social performance.