Basilea inks deal to get rights to novel panRAF inhibitors

A group of academic organizations and funders has entered an agreement with Swiss biopharmaceutical company Basilea Pharmaceutica (SIX: BSLN) to progress a new family of cancer drugs designed to block several key cancer-causing proteins at once. Basilea’s shares edged 2.5% higher to 113.20 Swiss francs in early trading today.

The consortium, including The Institute of Cancer Research, London, the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research Technology (CRT) and The University of Manchester, has granted Basilea exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize novel panRAF inhibitors.

The new drug class originated from research at The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) funded by Wellcome Trust and Cancer Research UK. The drugs have the potential to be used where a patient’s tumor has developed resistance to existing drugs targeting the BRAF protein, which is mutated in a range of cancers including 50% of melanomas and 10% of bowel cancers.