A promising new cancer drug, developed by the Melbourne-based
Cancer Therapeutics CRC (CTx), has been licensed to pharmaceutical company MSD (known as
Merck in the US and Canada) for $730 million.
Designed to inhibit protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5), the drug is the result of research by CTx and its partners, including
CSIRO,
Monash University, the
Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the
Walter and Eliza Hall Institute. Additional support was provided by the UK-based
Wellcome Trust and CTx’s commercialisation partner,
Cancer Research Technology (CRT), which was responsible for the licensing agreement.
The PRMT5 is involved in the epigenetic control of genes such as p53 — a gene that protects the cell against cancer-causing mutations and is faulty in nine out of 10 cancers. High levels of PRMT5 are found in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), melanoma and lung and breast cancers. As noted by Dr Tom Peat from CSIRO, the protein’s presence is also linked to poor survival rates.
