Charity Puts Drug In The Clinic

Cancer Research UK will conduct early trials for cancer of a compound owned by AstraZeneca. The nonprofit expects to start the Phase I/II trial of AZD-3965, which blocks monocarboxylate transporter 1, a key player in cell metabolism, in 2011. If the results are promising, AstraZeneca can choose to take on development of the compound. But if AstraZeneca declines to pursue the drug, the rights revert to Cancer Research UK. AZD-3965 is the second compound to enter clinical trials as part of the charity’s initiative to push forward cancer drug candidates that had stalled in development. This summer, it started a Phase I trial of GlaxoSmithKline’s aurora kinase inhibitor GSK1070916.