Dr. Carol Cass, an oncology professor and her colleagues, Dr. James Young and Dr. Steven Baldwin, were among the first to describe and characterize a nucleoside transporter protein, hENT1. This fundamental discovery uncovered the mechanisms of transport of nucleosides across biological membranes, which is central to cancer research because nucleoside-based drugs are only able to cross cell membranes by entering through the specialized transporter proteins to directly attack cancer cells. The key to the license agreement is that the hENT1 diagnostic can be used to select the most suitable drug for individual patients.

 

“When I first started working at the University of Alberta in 1970, I had no idea that forty years later I would be considered a ‘founder’ in this field of cancer research,” said Cass, who is also the Director of the Cross Cancer Institute, and Acting Scientific Director of Research in Alberta Health Services - Cancer Care.

 

The cell line developed by Cass and her colleagues produces an antibody that is able to identify and react with the hENT1 protein. This identification process was used by Dr. John Mackey, an oncology professor at the University of Alberta and clinician at the Cross Cancer Institute, to prove that the more hENT1 protein a pancreatic cancer patient had, the better they responded to the drug gemcitabine, used to treat pancreatic cancer - a cancer with a 99% mortality rate.

 

“TEC Edmonton acted on behalf of Cass and her colleagues to take care of the business aspects of the licensing deal, facilitating Clavis’ evaluation and subsequent exclusive license of the technology,” said Chris Lumb, CEO of TEC Edmonton.

 

As the University of Alberta’s technology transfer agent, TEC Edmonton’s mandate is to move discoveries into the marketplace. Clavis will collaborate with the University of Alberta to develop hENT1 companion diagnostic tests for its cancer product candidates CP-4126, elacytarabine and CP-4200. These tests will help doctors determine the best course of therapy for patients.

 

“We appreciate and are deeply impressed by the  great work performed by Dr. Carol Cass during her scientific life with a thorough and persistent work aiming at revealing basic and new knowledge about the function of all the nucleoside transporters, combined with extensive collaboration with others scientists,” said Dr. Marit Liland Sandvold, Clavis VP Preclinical R&D. 

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TEC Edmonton helps inventors, entrepreneurs and investors transform high-tech discoveries into viable corporations. Through our business services, TEC Edmonton helps navigate the commercialization process by providing assistance with technology evaluation, intellectual property protection, business plan development, marketing research, corporate management and funding preparation. A unique non-for-profit enterprise, TEC Edmonton is a joint venture between Edmonton Economic Development Corporation (EEDC) and the University of Alberta.  

 

Clavis Pharma ASA is a clinical stage oncology drug development company based in Oslo, Norway with a portfolio of novel anti-cancer drugs in development. These patented New Chemical Entities (NCEs) are novel, improved versions of commercially successful drugs, made using Clavis Pharma's Lipid Vector Technology (LVT) chemistry. Data generated suggests these potential breakthrough products may offer improved efficacy and reduced side effects through enhanced pharmacokinetic properties, greater tissue penetration, altered metabolism and, in certain cases, additional modes of action. Perhaps the most important property of the nucleoside analogues developed by Clavis Pharma is their potential ability to circumvent hENT1 and other nucleoside transporter proteins and thus offer treatment options to patients that do not respond to traditional nucleoside treatments like gemcitabine and cytarabine.

 

An agreement that will further broaden the scope of the University of Alberta and Clavis Pharma collaboration was announced last week. The agreement between Clavis Pharma’s licensee for CP-4126, Clovis Oncology and Ventana Medical Systems relates to the commercial development of a diagnostic test to measure hENT1 status in various solid tumour cancers.