Astex Pharmaceuticals

Astex Pharmaceuticals
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Pharmaceuticals
Founded	1999
Headquarters	European Corporate and Research headquarters in Cambridge, UK (Astex Therapeutics Limited); US Corporate and Clinical Development headquarters in Pleasanton, California, USA (Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc.)
Key people	Harren Jhoti (President and CEO); David Rees (Chief Scientific Officer, Astex Therapeutics Limited); Martin Buckland (President and Chief Corporate Officer, Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc.); Harold N. Keer (Chief Medical Officer, Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc.)
Products	Therapeutics for oncology and CNS disorders
Revenue	not available
Website	astx.com

Last updated May 26, 2021

Astex Pharmaceuticals ("Astex") is a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of drugs in oncology and diseases of the central nervous system. Astex was founded in 1999 by Sir Tom Blundell,^[1]^[2] Chris Abell & Harren Jhoti,^[3] and is located in Cambridge, England.^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

History

Astex was founded as “Astex Technology Limited” in 1999 in Cambridge, UK, to pioneer a novel approach to small molecule drug discovery known as ‘fragment-based drug discovery’ (FBDD). Its proprietary drug discovery platform, Pyramid™, can effectively identify novel small molecule drugs for key disease targets. Originally funded by venture capital, from a number of investors including Abingworth, Advent international, Oxford Bioscience Partners, Apax Partners and Gimv. Astex established strategic partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Novartis, Janssen Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline.

In 2005, the Company changed its name to Astex Therapeutics Limited when its first product entered clinical development. In 2011, Astex Therapeutics Limited and SuperGen, Inc. (US) merged.^[10] Following the acquisition, SuperGen, Inc. changed its name to Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and began trading under the ticker symbol ASTX on NASDAQ.^[11] The combined Astex entities were subsequently acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceutical in October 2013 for around USD $900 million, and now operate as part of the Otsuka group as wholly-owned subsidiaries.^[9]

Astex currently operates from two sites:

European Corporate and Research headquarters in Cambridge, UK (Astex Therapeutics Limited)
US Corporate and Clinical Development headquarters in Pleasanton, California, USA (Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc.)

Research and development

Astex is focused on precision medicine for oncology and central nervous system disorders. This approach involves first understanding the molecular basis of a disease and then developing a targeted therapy which can arrest or reverse its progression.

Astex’s Pyramid™ platform^[12] assists with the rational design of novel small molecule targeted therapies. These therapies are based on the use of biophysical techniques, principally X-ray crystallography, to screen and identify very small, low molecular weight fragments of drugs binding into the disease target of interest. Astex uses its knowledge of the 3-dimensional structure of the binding interaction between the compound and the target to design and grow from the initial fragment, adding further functionality to improve the binding interaction so that the final drug compound interacts optimally with the disease target – either through inhibition or activation.

In 2020, Astex and Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. entered into a new partnership with Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA (known as MSD outside the USA and Canada) through a subsidiary,^[13] and this partnership was extended in 2021.^[14]

Clinical pipeline

Astex has a pipeline of investigational compounds currently in various stages of clinical development.

Several compounds from drug discovery collaborations with Astex have been advanced by Astex’s biopharma partners into clinical trials and onto the market, including ribociclib (brand name “Kisqali”), a CDK4/CDK6 inhibitor discovered in collaboration with Novartis, subsequent to an original collaboration on FGFR inhibitors between Astex and Newcastle University, that was granted approval in the US and EU in 2017 for the treatment of breast cancer.^[15] Erdafitinib (brand name “Balversa”) is an FGFR inhibitor that was discovered with Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), and received FDA market approval for the treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma in 2019.^[16]

Related Research Articles

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Harren Jhoti is a structural biologist whose main interest has been rational drug design and discovery. He is President & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of biotechnology company Astex Pharmaceuticals ("Astex") which is located in Cambridge, United Kingdom (UK).

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Erdafitinib is a small molecule inhibitor of fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) approved for treatment of cancer and marketed under the name Balversa. FGFRs are a subset of tyrosine kinases which are unregulated in some tumors and influence tumor cell differentiation, proliferation, angiogenesis, and cell survival. Astex Pharmaceuticals discovered the drug and licensed it to Janssen Pharmaceuticals for further development.

David Charles Rees CChem, FRSC is a chemist whose main research interest is discovering new medicines. He is Chief Scientific Officer at Astex Pharmaceuticals Cambridge UK, a biotechnology company focussed on Fragment Based Drug Discovery. In 2003 David was hired by Astex to lead the chemistry team, and became Chief Scientific Officer in 2017. Three anti-cancer agents were created in research involving David: ribociclib and erdafitinib and the anaesthetic agent sugammadex which had global sales of US$917 million in 2018. David was President of the Organic Division from 2010 to 2013 of the Royal Society of Chemistry and was later elected as a Trustee of the RSC (2015-2019). He is a Director of Ashanti Development, a charity that promotes clean water and sanitation in Ghana.

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References

↑ Tom Blundell: Director Archived January 1, 2015, at the Wayback Machine on OpenCorporates
↑ Congreve, M; Murray, C. W.; Blundell, T. L. (2005). "Structural biology and drug discovery". Drug Discovery Today. 10 (13): 895–907. doi:10.1016/S1359-6446(05)03484-7. PMID 15993809.
↑ Williams, P. A.; Cosme, J; Vinkovic, D. M.; Ward, A; Angove, H. C.; Day, P. J.; Vonrhein, C; Tickle, I. J.; Jhoti, H (2004). "Crystal structures of human cytochrome P450 3A4 bound to metyrapone and progesterone". Science. 305 (5684): 683–6. doi:10.1126/science.1099736. PMID 15256616.
↑ Repasky, M. P.; Murphy, R. B.; Banks, J. L.; Greenwood, J. R.; Tubert-Brohman, I; Bhat, S; Friesner, R. A. (2012). "Docking performance of the glide program as evaluated on the Astex and DUD datasets: A complete set of glide SP results and selected results for a new scoring function integrating Water Map and glide". Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design. 26 (6): 787–99. doi:10.1007/s10822-012-9575-9. PMID 22576241.
↑ Novikov, F. N.; Stroylov, V. S.; Zeifman, A. A.; Stroganov, O. V.; Kulkov, V; Chilov, G. G. (2012). "Lead Finder docking and virtual screening evaluation with Astex and DUD test sets". Journal of Computer-Aided Molecular Design. 26 (6): 725–35. doi:10.1007/s10822-012-9549-y. PMID 22569592.
↑ Wolfson, W (2006). "Fragmentary solutions. Astex therapeutics puts the pieces together". Chemistry & Biology. 13 (8): 799–801. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2006.08.003 . PMID 16931326.
↑ Mountain, V (2003). "Astex, Structural Genomix, and Syrrx. I can see clearly now: Structural biology and drug discovery". Chemistry & Biology. 10 (2): 95–8. doi: 10.1016/s1074-5521(03)00030-9 . PMID 12618177.
↑ Carr, R. A.; Congreve, M; Murray, C. W.; Rees, D. C. (2005). "Fragment-based lead discovery: Leads by design". Drug Discovery Today. 10 (14): 987–92. doi:10.1016/S1359-6446(05)03511-7. PMID 16023057.
1 2 "Japan's Otsuka to buy Astex Pharma for about $900 million: Nikkei". Reuters. 4 September 2013. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
↑ "SuperGen to Merge with Astex for $25M in Cash". Genetic Engineering News. 7 April 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
↑ "SuperGen, Inc. Changes Name to Astex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Announces New Stock Ticker Symbol and New Website". BusinessWire. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
↑ "Fragment-based approaches to drug discovery" (PDF). Sp2. June 2006. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
↑ Brackley, Paul (9 January 2020). "Astex Pharmaceuticals and Taiho Pharmaceutical sign cancer drug deal with Merck that could be worth $2.5 billion". Cambridge Independent. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
↑ Brackley, Paul (21 January 2021). "Astex and Taiho strike further oncology licensing deal with MSD". Cambridge Independent. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
↑ Broderick, Jason M (14 March 2017). "FDA Approves Kisqali for Breast Cancer Subset". Cure Today. Retrieved 25 March 2021.
↑ "FDA grants accelerated approval to erdafitinib for metastatic urothelial carcinoma". U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 12 April 2019. Retrieved 14 April 2021.