NuCana gets novel cancer agents

London, UK-based NuCana, an emerging biopharmaceutical company focused on the in-licensing and development of therapies, targeting cancer and autoimmune disorders, has announced an R&D agreement with Cardiff ProTides Ltd - a drug discovery company spun out from the Welsh School of Pharmacy, Cardiff University, which applies its ProTide technology to improve the profile and activity of existing anticancer agents. The resulting novel drugs are New Chemical Entities based on the existing anti-cancer agents, says NuCana.

Under the terms of the deal, Cardiff ProTides has granted NuCana exclusive rights to develop and commercialize a series of ProTide derivatives of licensed and marketed anticancer compounds, in exchange for a buy-in fee, developmental milestone payments and royalty payments. NuCana will conduct all pre-clinical and clinical development and take responsibility for securing regulatory approval worldwide. Further financial details we not disclosed.