AstraZeneca forms cancer collaboration
of Texas' MD Anderson Cancer Center as it steps up its reliance on
external partners.
The aim of the alliance is to conduct research that could lead to new treatments to prevent post-chemotherapy pain; extend the therapeutic value of current chemotherapies; as well as help in the development of new chemotherapies with less severe pain-related side effects. Specifically, the pair will work on identifying neurobiological differences between cancer patients who develop chemotherapy-induced pain and patients who experience little or no pain, in the hope of gaining a better understanding of the mechanisms through which chemotherapies cause peripheral nerve dysfunctions, such as numbness and tingling, and severe pain. Neuropathic pain caused by cancer chemotherapy is one of the most prevalent symptoms in cancer patients - one study found that such pain affects up to half of patients undergoing active cancer treatment and up to 90 per cent of those with advanced disease. This side effect also often limits optimal therapeutic dosing in cancer treatments. Since 2006 MD Anderson and AstraZeneca have been undertaking collaborations related to a number of AstraZeneca's oncology products and research projects. AstraZeneca said that this latest agreement is the "third of several planned new alliances with leading academic and research institutions to address unmet medical needs through cutting-edge research across several disease areas, including Alzheimer's disease, chronic pain and psychiatric illnesses". "These proposed new agreements complement existing AstraZeneca US-based alliances in neuroscience and other key therapeutic areas with world-class institutions", the firm said. In November, having just announced net profits were down 15 per cent for the third quarter, company CEO David Brennan said the firm will no longer look for drugs to treat hypertension, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson's, insomnia, addiction, neuroprotection in stroke, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and functional gastrointestinal disorders. Speaking at the Credit Suisse 7th Annual Pharma Conference, Brannan said that in order to create a more flexible research and development (R&D) organisation that can bring better medicines to market faster, the company was fully implementing new disease focus areas. While the above indications are being dropped, AstraZeneca is planning to build up the amount of R&D in diabetes and obesity, pain (analgesia), infection, inhalation, and also increasingly use translational science in its cancer research.
