Merck Serono links with ICR and Wellcome Trust on anti-cancer drugs

German life sciences major Merck KGaA (MRK: DE) says its biopharma division Merck Serono has entered into a co-development and license agreement with the UK’s Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), and the Wellcome Trust, building on two independent research programs at both the ICR and Merck Serono to identify inhibitors of tankyrase, an enzyme of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase family.

The collaboration will be jointly funded by Merck Serono and the Wellcome Trust. The existing drug discovery program at the ICR is supported by a Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery Award.

In a joint effort, a team led by Chris Lord and Alan Ashworth at the ICR and a research group at Merck Serono will aim to progress chemical compounds that have emerged from both organizations' tankyrase inhibitor programs towards clinical development. At the end of the collaboration period, Merck Serono will take over full responsibility for the selected clinical development candidate, with the goal of bringing a new cancer therapeutic drug to patients.