Isis Pharmaceuticals announced today that Eli Lilly and Company licensed LY2275796, a second-generation antisense anti-cancer drug candidate for clinical development.
LY2275796 targets eukaryotic initiation factor- 4E (eIF-4E), a protein involved in the translation of key growth and survival factors that drive tumor progression, angiogenesis and metastases. The compound was discovered in the Isis -- Lilly drug discovery collaboration, and is the second antisense drug candidate from this broad, strategic alliance to be licensed to Lilly for development. Isis will receive a $750,000 payment from Lilly for the license.
"Our collaboration with Lilly is productive and we are pleased to contribute new, cutting-edge drug candidates to Lilly's oncology portfolio. Already, we have successfully licensed this compound and LY2181308, a second- generation drug candidate against the cancer target survivin, which is planned to enter Phase 1 trials later this year. We are optimistic that additional drug candidates will emerge from the alliance not only for cancer, but also for inflammatory and metabolic diseases," said C. Frank Bennett, Ph.D., Isis' Vice President, Antisense Research. "eIF-4E and survivin are drug targets that have been of great interest to the pharmaceutical industry and the oncology community at large, yet considered 'undruggable' with traditional small molecule compounds. However, using our proprietary second-generation chemistry, the collaboration readily identified selective and potent inhibitors to these targets."