Ann: Nature Paper MK in Melanoma, page-6

This is a major international multidisciplinary scientific effort directed at treating melanoma, as evidenced by the size of the research collaboration and the level of its financial backing.

Led by researchers at the National Center for Cancer Research (CNIO) in Madrid, other Spanish research groups involved are the Hospital Clinic Barcelona, the Hospital 12 de Octubre Madrid, the Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS), the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), the Institut Catlaa d’Oncologia (ICO) and the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL). International collaborators include Weill Cornell Medical College, the NY Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine, the US National Cancer Institute, and the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QMIR) in Brisbane.

The project was initiated in late 2015 with a 5-year timeline and a 1.2 million euros grant from the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC). Apart from funding by the collaborators’ own research bodies, the project has attracted financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, the L'Oréal Paris USA-Melanoma Research Alliance, Worldwide Cancer Research, the Mutua Madrileña Foundation, La Caixa Foundation, Immutrain Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN and the National Cancer Institute of the USA.

This level of involvement ensures that any results will have high visibility within the research and biopharmaceutical industry, and with it the importance of midkine to oncology. The initial results reported in Nature clearly have immense potential benefit for Cellmid as the holder of wide patent protection on the therapeutic and diagnostic applications of midkine pharmacology and the Company's holding of already developed anti-midkine agents.

As the CDY announcement states “inhibiting midkine for better treatment of melanoma becomes a compelling drug development program for Cellmid”. What’s now required is for a Big Pharma partner to also view it as compelling.