MedImmune broadens drug discovery in Cambridge
pharmafile | November 13, 2008 | News story | Research and Development | Cambridge, MedImmune
MedImmune, AstraZeneca's biotech arm, has opened a new R&D facility in Cambridge as part of a major expansion of its European operations.
Acquired by AstraZeneca in 2007, MedImmune has been merged with another of AstraZeneca's biotech acquisitions, Cambridge Antibody Technology which it bought in 2006.
The new building is at Granta Park in Cambridge, the site established by Cambridge Antibody Technologies (CAT) and the new investment means the scope of research carried out at the site will increase significantly.
Research into a variety of disease areas – such as oncology, respiratory and autoimmune disease, neurology, cardiovascular disease and diabetes – will now take place at the site.
The facility has been re-fitted with state-of-the art laboratories and will significantly increase the number of candidate drugs the company can develop each year.
AstraZeneca's ambition is for biologics to make up a quarter of the company's product portfolio by 2010.
Jane Osbourn, site leader and vice president of research at the Cambridge site said: "Today, MedImmune has one of the largest and most diverse biologics product pipelines in the world. We want to maximise our potential to develop new and better medicines, so adequate space and resource for R&D is a real priority for us.
"Our experience and expertise in Cambridge means the UK team plays a central role in MedImmune's global research activity."
The 92,000-square foot facility building is named in honour of Sir Aaron Klug, 1982 winner of the Nobel Prize for chemistry and longstanding board member and scientific advisor to CAT.
Osbourn said the extra space would accommodate growth in clinical and early development work, and help the company to achieve a goal of one new biological agent per year by 2013.
Respiratory disease has traditionally been one of the therapy areas researched at the site: the company's most advanced molecule discovered in Cambridge is its anti-IL 13 drug for severe asthma, CAT-354, which is currently in phase II trials.
CAT also has a heritage in oncology research and this will be combined with MedImmune expertise in the area. One particularly exciting area of research is in blood cancers, including leukaemias and lymphoma. Other areas of emerging understanding, in the cardiovascular and neuroscience therapy areas will also be researched.
MedImmune, whose headquarters are in Maryland, employs 3,000 people worldwide. The Granta Park site will provide capacity for up to 250 employees and around a dozen senior clinical positions have been created.
"The Cambridge site is now flourishing as part of MedImmune", said Osbourn.
"There is great expertise on the site and we are looking to grow that further."
Cambridge-based research
CAT-derived research programmes now form an important part of AstraZeneca's biologicals pipeline.
Early pre-clinical data has shown asthma treatment CAT-354's potential to treat varying degrees of the condition, and phase I data has demonstrated safety and tolerability in patients with mild to moderate asthma.
The phase II randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled study will assess its effects on airway hyperresponsiveness.
Further phase I trials have also commenced to assess the drug as a subcutaneous injection – previous trials have been administered using intravenous infusion.
Other drug candidates include GC-1008, being developed in collaboration with Genzyme and in phase I trials for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung disorder, and malignant melanoma.
CAT-8015 is in phase I trials as a potential treatment for hairy-cell and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma; and CAT-2200 and CAM-3001 are in pre-clinical and phase I development respectively as potential rheumatoid arthritis treatments.
Jane Osbourn said monoclonal antibodies will remain the focus of the work at Cambridge, but research will broaden to include other therapeutic proteins and peptides.
Peptides have attractive properties, such as low toxicity and high specificity, and they have the potential to become an important new class of biotech drugs.
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