Artios Pharma has exercised its option to in-license the first nuclease drug development with Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, in a collaboration formed in June 2017 to discover and develop novel cancer treatments by targeting DNA nucleases involved in the DDR, Artios said on Monday.
Niall Martin, Chief Executive Officer at Artios Pharma, said in-licensing of its first nuclease programme from Masaryk University reflects the strong progress that has been made with Drs Krejci and Paruch at Masaryk University on DDR nucleases. “The in-licensed programme has the potential to become a novel, first-in-class DDR targeted treatment for cancer, which complements our current development pipeline and further supports our position as a leader in the DDR field.”
Dr Lumir Krejci, the principal investigator on DDR nucleases at Masaryk University, said in-licensing of the lead nuclease research programme by Artios under the collaboration, can provide a new wave of innovative DDR-based cancer therapies. “(We) are confident in Artios’ ability to translate this programme to the clinic, to benefit the lives of cancer patients,” Krejci said.