Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute announced a preclinical research collaboration focused on lung cancer.

A team of scientists led by Pasi A. Jänne, M.D., Ph.D., director, Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; scientific director, Belfer Center for Applied Cancer Science; and, Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School will partner with Daiichi Sankyo on the development of a translational pharmacology package with unique experimental animal and patient derived xenograft models that were established at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. The collaboration will leverage the translational medicine expertise of the Belfer Center. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We are excited to enter into this unique partnership with Daiichi Sankyo. Working together we can accelerate the development of new therapeutic strategies for patients with lung cancer,” said Dr. Jänne.

“Despite several recent significant advances in the treatment of lung cancer with EGFR mutations, many patients still die of this disease, hence our urgency and obligation to pursue swiftly great science,” said Antoine Yver, MD, MSc, executive vice president and global head, oncology research and development, Daiichi Sankyo. “By partnering with scientists at Dana-Farber, we are looking to better understand drivers of disease as well as initial and secondary resistance to established targeted treatments with the ultimate goal of identifying a potential new treatment for patients with lung cancer.”

From achieving the first remissions in childhood cancer with chemotherapy in 1948, to developing the very latest new therapies, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is one of the world’s leading centres of cancer research and treatment.