Cyclacel Limited and Lorus Therapeutics Inc announced an agreement licensing to Cyclacel exclusive worldwide rights to a Lorus small molecule anticancer drug code-named CYC381 (also known as NC381) and related analogues. CYC381 is an orally available analogue of clotrimazole currently in preclinical development. It is a novel agent that has demonstrated potent antitumour activity in vivo against several human tumour xenografts. CYC381 appears to work by a cell cycle-related mechanism arresting cancer cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle.
Lorus licensed rights to CYC381 and its analogues from Harvard Medical School. Harvard investigators identified compounds with potential anticancer activity based on clinical observations of the effects of clotrimazole, a commonly used antifungal drug, on cancer cells. Lorus' research programme involved extensive evaluation of the clotrimazole analogue series in preclinical models and resulted in the selection of CYC381 as the lead candidate.
A joint effort by Lorus and the US National Cancer Institute succeeded in developing alternative formulations. As CYC381 is a racemic compound, Cyclacel plans to identify and take into clinical development a single enantiomer if test results continue to be supportive. CYC381's anticancer effects are presumed to result from its inhibition of the initiation of translation (protein synthesis) particularly of cyclins A, E and D1.
This property makes CYC381 ideally suited for clinical trials aided by Cyclacel's biomarker technology that is presently used in clinical trials of Cyclacel's own drug candidates, such as CYC202. Cyclacel's biomarker technology involves analysis of gene expression and proteins in the blood and tissues of patients receiving an anticancer drug that may correlate to the clinical benefit conferred on the patient by the drug.
Under the terms of the agreement Lorus will receive an upfront fee, milestones and royalties on product sales.
"We are pleased to enter into this partnership with Cyclacel", said Dr Jim Wright, CEO of Lorus. "Lorus has built value into NC381 by identifying the promise of this new class of compounds acting on the cell cycle. At this time, Lorus is focusing its efforts on its clinical products Virulizin, GTI-2040 and GTI-2501 and has been looking for a partner who could provide world class cell cycle biology and a proven track record of advancing novel compounds into the clinic. Cyclacel and its science team, led by Professor David Lane, is an excellent match with these criteria."