Albany Molecular advances a compound

Contract research firm Albany Molecular Research Inc. (AMRI) hopes to file an Investigational New Drug Application next year for a compound in its oncology research program. In preclinical disease models, the candidate, a novel analog of an established class of tubulin inhibitors, showed greater efficacy than marketed members of the class in killing cancer cells, according to AMRI. This is the second time AMRI has advanced early-stage candidates. In 2005, the firm selected two compounds from its biogenic amines program for advanced preclinical trials. The compounds, still in development, were subsequently licensed to Bristol-Myers Squibb.