New cancer drug company FLAG Therapeutics is taking a shot at developing safer and more effective cancer treatments and it’s doing it through a licensing deal that gives it exclusive access to a library of compounds developed at Duquesne University.
Foremost in the deal are two novel classes of small molecule, water-soluble compounds that are designed to target and destroy cancer cells. The compounds are anti-angiogenic/anti-tubulin compounds (AA/AT) and folate-targeted anti-cancer compounds (FTAC). The agreement also includes a vast library of compounds and an intellectual property portfolio protected by more than 50 U.S. and international patents and patent applications.
No financial terms were disclosed by Duquesne says it is “one of the largest licensing ventures in Duquesne’s history and encompasses the career portfolio of renowned cancer researcher and Duquesne professor Dr. Aleem Gangjee.”
AA/AT drugs are already in use to treat cancer. But the combination comes from two different drugs, which poses challenges of managing dosing schedules and making sure that the two drugs work together on the cancer target. FLAG says the AA/AT compounds covered in the agreement are the first compounds ever to combine the dual-action of the two major classes of anti-cancer drugs in a single molecule. FLAG says the combination could attack the tumor when it most vulnerable, increasing the drug’s efficacy and improving it’s tolerability.
The FTAC compounds that FLAG licensed are designed to be more selective in reaching the cancer targets, reducing damage to normal cells.
FLAG President and CEO Frank Sorgi, who is a Duquesne alum and a member of the dean’s advisory council for the Pittsburgh university’s School of Pharmacy, said FLAG is already eying testing of the compounds in cancer patients.
“We already have identified lead clinical candidates, each supported with encouraging comparative in vivo data versus current therapies, and we look forward to rapidly advancing these compounds into clinical trials,” Sorgi said in a statement.
FLAG launched earlier this year.
