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| Heidelberg, 9 August 2006 |
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| EMBL scientists found start-up company to
develop anti-cancer drugs
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Elara Pharmaceuticals GmbH provides a fast track from bench to clinical
application
Press
Release 9 August 2006 [PDF]
Today EMBL scientists, EMBL's
commercial affiliate, EMBL Enterprise Management Technology
Transfer GmbH [EMBLEM] and EMBL's venture vehicle, EMBL
Ventures GmbH, announce the foundation of Elara
Pharmaceuticals GmbH, a start-up company that will translate
basic research findings into new anti-cancer drugs. Elara is a spinout
company dedicated to drug development and will follow-up
on promising small molecule leads that have shown powerful
anti-cancer actions in screening experiments. Elara receives seed
funding from EMBL Ventures and has been granted exclusive
license rights to selected discoveries made at EMBL.
"Elara draws on the skills and know-how of some of Europe's
leading molecular biologists and the cutting-edge technology of
EMBL's Chemical Biology Core Facility", says George Reid,
researcher at EMBL and CEO of Elara. "The EMBL core facility,
led by Joe Lewis, who is also a co-founder of ELARA, has tested
thousands of small molecules in screens developed during our
basic research activities, and identified several series with anticancer
action. Elara will now take the most promising of these
compounds, further develop them and then evaluate their activity
in animal models of various types of tumours, such as lung and
breast cancer. Through creating a direct flow of information from
basic research, preclinical development and application studies,
we will greatly speed up the process of drug development."
Elara will follow-up on promising leads of molecules that block
the signaling protein Aurora Kinase A, which is strongly overexpressed
in cancer cells, and on inhibitors that affect estrogen
receptor signaling, a process essential in the development of
breast cancer. EMBO Executive Director, EMBL Senior Scientist
and Elara co-founder Frank Gannon heads the world-leading
research group studying these receptors. Five lead series of bioactive
molecules with different modes of action and diverse chemical
structures have already been identified from the two cancerrelated
signaling pathways.
"Traditionally, there is a significant gap between basic research
and drug development", says Christof Antz, Managing Director
of EMBL Ventures. "It often takes years to get from promising
findings to a therapeutic approach. With Elara we aim to bridge
this gap and create a direct pipeline from the Laboratory by way
of animal testing to clinical development."
Press Contacts
Anna-Lynn Wegener
Press Officer
EMBL Heidelberg
Tel: +49 6221 387-8452
Email: wegener@embl.de
Dr George Reid
Chief Executive Officer
Elara Pharmaceuticals GmbH
Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: +49 6221 387-8160
Email: reid@embl.de
Edeltraut Günterberg
Press Officer
EMBL Ventures GmbH
Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: +49 6221 389330
Email: press@embl-ventures.com
Dr Martin Raditsch
Deputy Managing Director
EMBLEM Technology Transfer GmbH
Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: +49 6221 3632222,
Email: raditsch@embl-em.de |
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