Eisai ups commitment to oncology with new US R&D subsidiary
This article was originally published in Scrip
Eisai is to pump at least $200 million over 10 years into exploratory research at a new US subsidiary set up to strengthen its activities in oncology R&D.
The new company, H3 Biomedicine, was incorporated last month with initial capital of $1 million and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Although it is structured as a subsidiary of the Japanese firm's US affiliate, Eisai Inc, it will work with research functions across the group.
Amid patent expiries for its mainstay products, notably Aricept (donepezil) for Alzheimer's disease, Eisai has positioned oncology as a core therapeutic area, acquiring the US cancer specialist MGI Pharma to this end in 2008. The main goal for H3 is the discovery and development of breakthrough therapies based on the identification of novel targets, using new organic chemistry techniques and biomarkers to reduce development times.
As part of this approach, H3 will tap into FORMA Therapeutics' small molecule discovery technologies, which Eisai licensed last November (scripintelligence.com, 17 November 2010).
The key focus will be first-in-class individualised therapies for difficult targets based on the elucidation of genetic characteristics of specific cancers. Additional funding will be provided as needed to support the clinical development of any candidate molecules discovered by the operation, Eisai said.
H3 has retained as scientific advisors two eminent US oncology researchers, Drs Stuart Schreiber and Todd Golub. Both professors are founding members of the Broad Institute at Harvard University and MIT and investigators at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, with wide expertise in cancer-related proteins and genetic research.