MISSION Therapeutics receives funding from Innovate UK for DUB cancer programme
CAMBRIDGE, UK – 22 September 2015 – MISSION Therapeutics, a drug discovery and development company focused on selectively targeting deubiquitylating enzymes to treat cancer and other diseases, today announced that it has been awarded a £1.9 million grant from Innovate UK. The funding is for the discovery of preclinical DUB inhibitors directed at specific deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs).
DUBs are involved in multiple cellular processes, including DNA damage and cell proliferation, and the inhibition of these enzymes has considerable potential for the generation of novel drugs for treating cancer and other unmet medical needs.
“This funding support from Innovate UK is further validation of our DUB technology platform and science. It will help us develop our pipeline and establish MISSION Therapeutics as a World-leader in the DUB field. More importantly, it will enable us to expand our search for new solutions to treat life-threatening diseases such as cancer”, commented Anker Lundemose, Chief Executive Officer, MISSION Therapeutics.
MISSION Therapeutics has received funding from the eighth round of the Biomedical Catalyst (BMC), a joint programme run by the Medical Research Council and the government’s innovation experts: Innovate UK (IUK). This fund supports UK academics and small to medium-sized businesses seeking to take their research from discovery through to commercialisation to deliver patient benefit.
DUBs are increasingly being considered as attractive therapeutic targets due to their relevance to many diseases such as cancer, inflammation, neurodegeneration, muscle wasting and infectious disease. However, despite significant efforts within the pharmaceutical sector, there is a lack of DUB inhibitors in clinical development. MISSION Therapeutics is a World-leading expert in DUB drug discovery with the scientific know-how to produce multiple DUB inhibitors as viable drug candidates. In this Innovate UK-funded project, MISSION will use its proprietary and unique technology platform to identify novel chemical entities targeting a particular DUB that lies at a key node of oncogenic signaling. Ultimately, these inhibitors, with first-in-class potential, will be used for treating malignancies with high unmet need for the benefit of cancer sufferers worldwide.
CONTACT:
MISSION Therapeutics Ltd
Anker Lundemose MD PhD
Chief Executive Officer
Tel +44 1223 497454
Hume Brophy
Mary Clark, Eva Haas, Hollie Vile
Email: missiontherapeutics@humebrophy.com
Tel: +44 2034 405654
NOTES TO EDITORS:
About MISSION Therapeutics
MISSION Therapeutics was founded in 2011 to commercialise expert research into the ubiquitin pathway for the treatment of cancers and other diseases of unmet need. It has built a World-leading platform for the discovery and development of first-in-class, small molecule drugs that selectively target deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs) – an emerging, and hitherto intractable, drug class that is attracting significant commercial interest as the potential ‘Next Kinase Area’.
MISSION’s leadership team has a wealth of international, commercial and scientific experience and the company has strong links with key academic and research centers including Cancer Research UK laboratories and the Jackson Laboratories at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge.
The Company has received £27 million in venture capital from a blue chip syndicate comprising institutional (Sofinnova Partners, Imperial Innovations) and corporate (SR One, Roche Venture Fund and Pfizer) investors and is based at the Babraham Research Campus, south of Cambridge.
About Innovate UK
Innovate UK is the UK’s innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For more details please visit www.innovateuk.gov.uk
