Astex Pharmaceuticals

Astex Pharmaceuticals is a biotechnology company based in Cambridge, focused on the discovery and development of drugs in oncology and diseases of the central nervous system. It is a subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical and has a strong track record in discovering drugs for patient populations of high unmet medical need. 

Astex’s technology platform (Pyramid™) has used a fragment-based drug discovery approach to successfully generate multiple new drug candidates for cancer. Some of these drugs have been discovered and developed in partnership with leading pharmaceuticals companies, including the marketed products Kisqali from Astex’s collaboration with Novartis and Balversa from its collaboration with Janssen. Astex’s drug discovery platform is now being applied to multiple neurodegenerative disease targets.

In April 2022, the UK DRI announced a partnership with Astex, aiming to identify and validate novel pathways and drug targets for neurodegenerative disease. The first phase of the partnership kicked off with two research projects, for which Astex has committed an investment of over £1m.

The two research projects are being run by UK DRI Group Leaders Prof Sir David Klenerman (UK DRI at Cambridge) and Dr Veronique Miron (UK DRI at Edinburgh). Prof Klenerman’s work focuses on the role of signalling pathways involved in inflammation in Alzheimer’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. Dr Miron will look at the function of oligodendrocytes – the myelin producing cells in the brain – in the pathology of Alzheimer’s disease.