BerGenBio to Develop Therapeutics for Drug Resistant Cancers

BerGenBio an oncology biopharmaceutical company has received a NOK 13 million grant from the Research Council of Norway’s User-driven Research based Innovation programme (BIA) to help fund research into novel therapeutics for inhibiting tumour epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), a key driver of metastasis (cancer spread) and a mechanism of drug-resistance.

The focus of the project, titled: “Novel therapeutics inhibiting the EMT/Axl pathway in aggressive cancers”, is to implement state-of-the-art R&D strategies to identify and develop new drug candidates with the potential to prevent and reverse acquired cancer drug resistance. It is estimated that one in three people die of cancer, 90% of which from tumours that have spread and become resistant to treatment.  A number of studies have shown that the Axl receptor kinase is closely linked to drug resistance and drugs that inhibit it could offer a promising potential new treatment option.

Research by BerGenBio in the development of BGB324, the Company’s first-in-class selective Axl kinase inhibitor, has firmly established the concept that inhibition of the Axl/EMT pathway is effective against acquired drug resistant and aggressive cancers and has also identified new approaches to inhibiting EMT. The BIA funding will be used to support development of these new concepts into new, highly innovative drug leads with early preclinical proof-of-concept.

Established in 2006, the BIA programme is one of the largest programmes at the Research Council and is a key partner for Norwegian trade and industry. This broad-based programme supports high-quality R&D projects with good business and socio-economic potential.