Sentinel Oncology Ltd secures £1.3M investment from Wellcome Trust to develop innovative cancer drugs
Funds will be used to develop new small molecules which disrupt DNA repair pathways in solid tumours.
Cambridge, UK, October 2007. Sentinel Oncology Ltd, the drug discovery company announced today that the Wellcome Trust has provided £1.3m of funding under its Seeding Drug Discovery Initiative to develop drugs that are activated by hypoxia in tumours to target DNA repair mechanisms.
In conjunction with Professor Ashok Venkitaraman from the University of Cambridge and the Hutchison MRC Cancer Centre, Sentinel Oncology aims to use the hypoxic tumour micro-environment to activate two synergistic effects within a single compound in order to specifically deliver more potent anti-cancer treatment. The approach dubbed 'Target Synergy' will damage the DNA of the tumour cells and at the same time inhibit critical DNA repair pathways while remaining inherently safe within normal, non-cancerous tissues.
The company will focus on the development of compounds for the treatment of glioblastoma, a tumour which currently responds poorly to traditional chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
"We focus on both tumour hypoxia and the disruption of DNA repair pathways" said Bob Boyle, R&D director for Sentinel Oncology. "The award from the Wellcome Trust will allow us to develop compounds able to attack both pathways and more effectively kill the tumour."
Dr Ted Bianco, Director of Technology Transfer at the Wellcome Trust acknowledged "the long-term prognosis for patients diagnosed with glioblastoma is poor". Dr Bianco added that "in making this award, it is hoped that the elegant research conducted to date can be demonstrated to have real potential for the treatment of patients. Should the approach be validated, there may be scope to explore its relevance to the treatment of comparable tumours."
Further information about Sentinel Oncology Ltd please contact :
Bob Boyle
Sentinel Oncology Ltd.
T: 01223 437124
Email: bob.boyle@sentineloncology.com
Or visit www.sentineloncology.com
About The Wellcome Trust
The Wellcome Trust is the largest independent charity in the UK and the second largest medical research charity in the world. It funds innovative biomedical research, both in the UK and internationally, spending around £500 million each year to support the brightest scientists with the best ideas. The Wellcome Trust supports public debate about biomedical research and its impact on health and wellbeing.
The Wellcome Trust's £91 million Seeding Drug Discovery initiative aims to assist researchers and companies, small and large, to take forward early-stage drug discovery projects in small-molecule therapeutics. The Wellcome Trust is currently accepting applications for the next round of funding under the Seeding Drug Discovery initiative. Preliminary applications submitted by 9 November 2007 will be short listed for consideration by the committee in May 2008.
About tumour hypoxia
As solid tumours grow, they recruit a blood supply by a process called angiogenesis. This process is not ordered as in normal growing tissues and areas of poor blood supply are formed due to the sometimes chaotic arrangement of the new capillaries. Tumour hypoxia causes resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy in solid tumours and generally makes the tumours more difficult to kill.
About Glioblastoma
Glioblastoma is a common brain cancer, which is typically treated using agents like radiation that damage DNA. Not only are these treatments rather toxic, with unwanted and unpleasant side effects, but glioblastoma is also highly resistant to them, meaning that patients often survive for no longer than a year.
About Sentinel Oncology
Sentinel Oncology is a drug discovery company focusing on the discovery and development of new chemical entities for the treatment of cancer. Over the past three years, the company has built a pipeline of molecules and is focused on the discovery of pre-clinical candidates for progression to clinical trials by partnering or in-house development.