BASF Signs Cancer Deal With Mitotix

BASF Pharma has entered into a five-year agreement with Mitotix for the research, development and commercialization of novel anticancer drugs targeting human cdc25, a family of enzymes that play important roles in regulating cell cycling. The deal could be worth up to $48 million to Mitotix, which was founded in 1992 and is based in Massachusetts, USA.

Mitotix has determined that cdc25 enzymes are active only in proliferating cells. Their only known function is to activate cyclin-dependent kinases which trigger specific steps for cell division. "Our research recently established the cdc25 family of enzymes as oncogenes that are overexpressed in many cancers, including breast and colorectal cancer," said David Beach of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in the USA, who is a co-founder of Mitotix.

Studies establishing cdc25 enzymes as potential oncogene products were published recently in Science.