FLIP sync: Collaboration for inhibitors and cancer treatments

Queen’s University Belfast has entered into a collaboration with Ipsen and Domainex. The agreement provides an exclusive licence to research, develop, manufacture and commercialise FLIP inhibitors and cutting-edge treatments for a variety of cancers.

Professors Daniel Longley, Tim Harrison and colleagues at Queen’s University, Belfast, have entered into the collaboration and licensing agreement with Ipsen, while Domainex has supported the FLIP inhibitor programme since its inception.

FLIP is a major protein, which is frequently overexpressed in haematological and solid tumours, including lung and pancreatic cancer. It is also a key oncology target and has been shown to increase with tumour progression in a variety of cancers.

“It has been an absolute pleasure working with Dr Boffey and the Domainex team on this project,” Professor Daniel Longley, deputy director of the Patrick G. Johnston Centre for Cancer Research at Queen’s, enthused. “Without their first-class medicinal chemistry expertise and the use of their Leadbuilder virtual screening platform at the outset of the programme, we would not have been able to secure the support of The Wellcome Trust and advance the programme to the stage it has now reached.”

FLIP allows tumour cells to evade cell death and promotes tumour growth and therapy resistance. To further advance cutting-edge research into the role of FLIP inhibitors in cancer, Domainex also supported Queen’s in securing a Wellcome Trust Seeding Drug Discovery award.

Professor Tim Harrison, McClay Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Queen’s and Co-PI, added: “We are excited about the potential of the novel, first-in-class small molecule FLIP inhibitors that we have been able to develop and thank Domainex for its support of the medicinal chemistry programme which has allowed us to progress the programme to this stage.”

Domainex was established in 2001 as a spin-out from University College London, Birkbeck College and the Institute of Cancer Research. Domainex is a privately-owned company that provides integrated drug discovery research services to global pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic partners. Its services cover a wide range of drug research processes.