Avalon initiates drug R&D on survivin pathway

The USA's Avalon Pharmaceuticals has initiated a drug discovery program centered on the survivin pathway, an important and intractable cancer pathway. Survivin is overexpressed in multiple tumor types including breast, lung, prostate, pancreatic and colon.

Avalon noted that, in addition, the compound is cancer-selective as it is broadly expressed in most tumor types but undetectable in most normal adult cells."The survivin pathway is recognized as a critical but elusive pathway for cancer therapeutics, because of its lack of enzymatic function," stated David Bol, vice president of Avalon. The survivin pathway intersects cellular networks critical for cancer cell function; including cell death, cell growth and drug and radiation resistance, he added.