Astex Pharmaceuticals, Cancer Research Technology and Newcastle University Sign Strategic Drug Discovery Alliance

AstexPharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: ASTX), a pharmaceutical company dedicated to thediscovery and development of novel small molecule therapeutics, CancerResearch Technology Limited (CRT) and Newcastle University have signed a majorfive-year strategic drug discovery alliance. The partners will discover anddevelop new cancer drugs in collaboration with researchers at the CancerResearch UK Drug Discovery Program at the Northern Institute for CancerResearch (NICR, Newcastle University).During the five-year alliance, Astex will provide £1M funding annually toNewcastle University to support research across biology, chemistry,pharmacology and imaging at the NICR to identify and develop new cancer drugsand associated biomarkers to develop tests to determine which patients totreat and if new drugs are working.Harren Jhoti, PhD, president and director of Astex Pharmaceuticals, said, "Weare delighted to enter into this broad strategic drug discovery alliance withone of Cancer Research UK's leading drug discovery centers as it allows Astexto access world-leading translational research in oncology.""This new alliance builds on a previous collaboration between Astex, Newcastleand CRT on FGFr, a key cancer target, which led to the development of aclinical candidate that our partners at Janssen have recently taken into aPhase I clinical trial, and we look forward to discovering more new potentialtherapies for cancer patients."