Partnership to investigate Lysosomal Modulators

The Medicines Discovery Institute, Cardiff University (MDI) and Astex Pharmaceuticals, a Cambridge-based developer of small molecule therapeutics for oncology and diseases of the central nervous system, are working together to identify new drugs to treat neurodegenerative diseases with high unmet medical need.  

The research will build on the world-leading research expertise of Dr Emyr Lloyd-Evans & Dr Helen Waller-Evans in lysosomal biology, the drug discovery capabilities of the MDI and the fragment-based drug discovery platform at Astex using a chosen target with the aim to identify and optimise compounds that modulate lysosomal activity. Lysosomes are a subset of organelles crucial for cellular function and mutations in the genes encoding lysosomal and associated proteins are linked to a number of neurodegenerative and lysosomal storage diseases for which there are currently no effective treatments.

Cardiff University will receive committed R&D funding and is eligible to receive development and regulatory payments if drug compounds progress and a royalty payment on the sales of any approved products.  Further financial details were not disclosed.

Prof Simon Ward, Director, Medicines Discovery Institute commented “We are excited to be working with Astex in a way that allows each partner to play to its individual strengths and build a combined team which is greater than the sum of its parts. This is a validation of the scientific and translational capabilities we have been building at Cardiff University over the last few years and we look forward to delivering outputs that may ultimately benefit patients for whom current treatment options are so limited. This is an excellent demonstration of the power of academic and industrial teams working together to try to solve currently intractable medical problems.”

Dr David Rees, FMedSci, FRSC, Chief Scientific Officer of Astex commented, “We are very excited about this opportunity to work with Cardiff University, Medicines Discovery Institute. Astex has a long tradition of effective collaborations between academia and industry which we believe is critical for the successful translation of basic science. This partnership aims to support and advance ground-breaking research with the potential to transform the lives of patients with neurodegenerative diseases.”

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