AstraZeneca taps into SCRI and Cancer Research UK for new cancer drugs development

In the past two days, Anglo-Swedish drug major AstraZeneca (LSE: AZN), already well-established in the oncology market, has linked up with two organizations - the USA-based Sarah Cannon Research Institute (SCRI) and Britain’s Cancer Research UK - in a bid to develop novel treatments for cancer.

Under the first agreement, SCRI will collaborate with AstraZeneca to provide clinical program development expertise, clinical program design, medical oversight and trial management. The first clinical trial to be conducted under the accord was initiated in November 2010 with the first patient enrollment into that clinical trial on November 23, 2010.

Potential benefits to be derived from this unique collaboration include enhanced strategic clinical development in pursuit of new and more effective cancer therapies, flexibility in program design and implementation, innovation via realizing efficiencies across the collaboration, leveraging the strengths of the innovative collaboration, and rapid patient enrollment to clinical trials through the access of a large network of cancer patients.