TopoTarget finalizes buy of BioImage compounds

Denmark's TopoTarget A/S says it has exercised its option under the agreement entered into December 2005 with the Danish life science company BioImage A/S, to purchase full ownership of TOP216 which is a mTOR anticancer drug program in preclinical development.

The program covers a novel class of small molecules which act via the mTOR (mammalian Target Of Rapamycin) signalling pathway. The compounds have demonstrated marked anti-tumor efficacy in TopoTarget's cancer models and revealed a promising side effect profile.

The acquired drug program relates to "diphenyl ox-indole-2-one" compounds - a novel class of small molecules affecting downstream mTOR signalling pathway, which plays a key role in cell cycle progression, DNA recombination and DNA damage detection, and the pathway is activated in many cancers. First generation mTOR inhibitors have demonstrated clinical efficacy, thus validating their use as a cancer target.