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

CAMBRIDGE, UK,  1ST JULY 2015 – MISSION Therapeutics, a drug discovery and development company today announced Dr Colin Goddard, former Chief Executive Officer of OSI Pharmaceuticals (“OSI”), has been appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors.

“We are privileged to have Dr Goddard join our board at this exciting phase of MISSION’s growth and development”, commented Michael Moore, Chairman, MISSION Therapeutics.

“Dr Goddard has more than 25 years of outstanding leadership experience in the US biopharmaceutical industry and will add a complementary strategic dimension to our board. We look forward to benefiting from his corporate vision, as we continue to transition our business into a clinical stage organisation.”

Dr Anker Lundemose, Chief Executive Officer of MISSION Therapeutics added: “We are pleased to welcome Dr Goddard to MISSION Therapeutics. His experience and track record in clinical development will be invaluable as we look to develop new drugs that will significantly improve the management of cancer.”

Dr Goddard joined OSI as a research scientist in 1989 and led the transformation of the technology platform services company into a profitable fully integrated biopharmaceutical organisation, becoming CEO in 1998. He was pivotal in the registration and launch of OSI’s targeted therapeutic product, Tarceva (erlotinib) and also directed the Company’s financing, corporate development and acquisition strategies, completing several major acquisitions and divestitures and raising over $1.5bn in capital. OSI was acquired by Astellas Pharma Inc. in June 2010 for $4bn.

Dr Goddard obtained his PhD in cancer pharmacology from the University of Aston in Birmingham, UK and worked at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, before joining OSI. He currently serves as Executive Chairman of US based Biotech companies, Coferon, Inc and Merganser Biotech and as a Director on the boards of Endocyte Inc (NASDAQ: ECYT) and PanOptica Inc.; He was formerly a Director at Human Genome Sciences Inc.

About MISSION Therapeutics

Founded in 2011, MISSION Therapeutics builds on the research of Professor Steve Jackson FRS, who holds the Frederick James Quick Chair of Biology at the University of Cambridge, by exploiting the new and extensive research emerging on the ubiquitin pathways that control cellular responses to DNA damage.

MISSION has established a broad platform of technologies for the discovery and preclinical development of first-in-class modulators of ubiquitin pathway enzymes involved in cancer and other diseases. The Company is developing drugs to inhibit the proliferation of tumour cells, exploiting certain properties of specific DUBs, such as their oncogene status or association with synthetic lethality, the latter now a clinically-proven mechanism for selectively killing tumour cells.

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.

CONTACT:

MISSION Therapeutics Ltd

Anker Lundemose MD PhD

Chief Executive Officer

Tel +44 1223 497454

Hume Brophy

Mary Clark, Hollie Vile, Alexia Faure

Email: missiontherapeutics@humebrophy.com

Tel: +44 2034 405654

Cambridge UK, 20 April 2015 – MISSION Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of modulators of the deubiquitylating (DUB) enzyme family for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, today presents a poster at AACR entitled “Discovery of highly selective UCHL1 inhibitors with in vivo pre-clinical anti-tumour activity”.

UCHL1 is a prototypical oncogene that selectively drives proliferation in many tumour types including multiple myeloma and lung cancer. UCHL1 depletion leads to the selective killing of a number of tumours whose proliferation is driven by UCHL1. Validation of DUB targets like UCHL1 exemplifies the rationale for developing inhibitors of the ubiquitin pathways to target a broad range of cancers with defined genetic abnormalities, or resistance to standard-of-care modalities. Using its integrated drug discovery platform combining unique biochemical, cellular, biophysical and structural assays,MISSION has identified and optimised potent and selective small molecule, active site inhibitors of UCHL1. These inhibitors recapitulate UCHL1 target biology and exhibit in vitro target engagement in proprietary cellular assays. Further lead optimisation has generated compounds with drug-like properties that demonstrate efficacy in disease models. Cumulatively, the data support not only the potential further pre-clinical development of UCHL1 compounds but also the tractability of a broader range of DUBs to pharmacologic intervention, with the potential to reach a diversity of cancers comprising different genetic signatures.

Xavier Jacq, Vice President Biology at MISSION, commented: “We are delighted to share our recent progress in the development of first-in-class selective UCHL1 inhibitors targeting difficult to treat cancers. The advances presented, underpin MISSION’s ability to identify small molecule leads of a hitherto difficult enzyme class. Surmounting the key challenges of targeting DUBs, we have paved the way for the timely development of inhibitors of several DUBs and the generation of a wholly new structural class of anti-cancer agents”.

About MISSION Therapeutics
Founded in 2011, MISSION Therapeutics builds on the research of Professor Steve Jackson FRS, who holds the Frederick James Quick Chair of Biology at the University of Cambridge, by exploiting the new and extensive research emerging on the ubiquitin pathways that control cellular responses to DNA damage.

MISSION has established a broad platform of technologies for the discovery and preclinical development of first-in-class modulators of ubiquitin pathway enzymes involved in cancer and other diseases. The Company is developing drugs to inhibit the proliferation of tumour cells, exploiting certain properties of specific DUBs, such as their oncogene status or association with synthetic lethality, the latter now a clinically-proven mechanism for selectively killing tumour cells.

The Company has received £27 million in venture capital from a blue chip syndicate comprising institutional and corporate investors (Sofinnova Partners, Imperial Innovations, SR One, Roche Venture Fund and Pfizer Venture Investments) and is based at the Babraham Research Campus, south of Cambridge.

CONTACT:
MISSION Therapeutics Ltd
Dr Anker Lundemose, Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0)1223 497197
Email: enquiries@missiontherapeutics.com

Instinctif Partners
Tim Watson
+44 (0)20 7866 7861
Email: missiontherapeutics@instinctif.com

Appointment highlights scope and productivity of drug discovery platform

Cambridge UK, 16 March 2015 – MISSION Therapeutics, a company focused on the discovery and development of modulators of the deubiquitylating (DUB) enzyme family for the treatment of cancer and other diseases, announces the appointment of Paul Wallace PhD as Chief Business Officer.

Dr Wallace joins MISSION to formulate future business strategy at a time when the Company’s pipeline has matured to the point where strategic options such as development partnerships are ready to be explored. Having worked in business development roles within drug discovery companies for nearly 20 years, Dr Wallace was most recently Executive Vice President and Head of Business Development at Medivir AB, where he was also a member of the Executive Management Team responsible for strategic and operational leadership, R&D portfolio management and investment planning. During this time he was central to the execution of more than 25 partnership deals, 8 products were taken into clinical development, 2 drugs were launched and Medivir transitioned into a profitable pharmaceutical company. Prior to his roles in business development Dr Wallace had a career in pharmaceutical research and undertook his PhD and post-doctoral studies at the University of Cambridge.

Anker Lundemose, MISSION Chief Executive Officer commented: “With MISSION currently embarking on the preclinical development of its lead molecules, Paul’s extensive business development experience will be invaluable in helping us find the right strategic partnerships to fully realise the potential of these assets. Our core focus is cancer, but our platform discovery approach has yielded highly promising molecules for other indications, such as Parkinson’s disease. We see partnering as an attractive option for taking these non-core projects forward.”

Paul Wallace responded: “I am delighted to be joining the MISSION team at a time when the commercialisation of certain of its assets is an increasingly promising prospect. The Company’s progress in unlocking successive DUB targets to potent and selective small molecule inhibitors positions MISSION for entering partnership transactions outside its proprietary oncology programs. The diversity of assets created is testimony to the rigour of MISSION’s screening platform in this critically important, but hitherto difficult, area of drug discovery”.

About MISSION Therapeutics
Founded in 2011, MISSION Therapeutics builds on the research of Professor Steve Jackson FRS, who holds the Frederick James Quick Chair of Biology at the University of Cambridge, by exploiting the new and extensive research emerging on the ubiquitin pathways that control cellular responses to DNA damage.

MISSION has established a broad platform of technologies for the discovery and preclinical development of first-in-class modulators of ubiquitin pathway enzymes involved in cancer and other diseases. The Company is developing drugs to inhibit the proliferation of tumour cells, exploiting certain properties of specific DUBs, such as their oncogene status or association with synthetic lethality, the latter now a clinically-proven mechanism for selectively killing tumour cells.

The Company has received £27 million in venture capital from a blue chip syndicate comprising institutional and corporate investors (Sofinnova Partners, Imperial Innovations, SR One, Roche Venture Fund and Pfizer Venture Investments) and is based at the Babraham Research Campus, south of Cambridge.

CONTACT:
MISSION Therapeutics Ltd
Dr Anker Lundemose, Chief Executive Officer
+44 (0)1223 497197
Email: enquiries@missiontherapeutics.com

Instinctif Partners
Tim Watson
+44 (0)20 7866 7861
Email: missiontherapeutics@instinctif.com