Debiopharm gains rights to a novel Wee-1 inhibitor program

Northern Ireland-based cancer drug developer Almac Discovery has entered into a collaboration with Switzerland-based, family-owned Debiopharm International on the development of Almac's Wee-1 kinase inhibitor program.

Under the terms of the license agreement, Almac Discovery has granted exclusive global rights to its Wee-1 patent families and related subject matter expertise to Debiopharm. Almac Discovery is eligible to receive an undisclosed upfront payment with further development and commercial milestone payments in addition to receiving royalties from Debiopharm.

The area of DNA damage response and cell cycle regulation has seen notable activity from the pharmaceutical industry recently, including some high profile drug approvals for cell cycle kinase inhibitors. Many cancer treatments such as radiation, antimetabolites, alkylating agents, DNA topoisomerase inhibitors and platinum compounds damage DNA in cells. The cellular response is to arrest the cell cycle temporarily to allow for DNA repair, hence reducing the efficacy of chemotherapy.