MISSION Therapeutics receives funding for DUB cancer programme

MISSION Therapeutics has been awarded a £1.9 million grant from Innovate UK for the discovery of preclinical DUB inhibitors directed at specific deubiquitylating enzymes (DUBs).

DUBs are involved in multiple cellular processes, including DNA damage and cell proliferation, and the inhibition of these enzymes has considerable potential for the generation of novel drugs for treating cancer and other unmet medical needs.

“This funding support from Innovate UK is further validation of our DUB technology platform and science. It will help us develop our pipeline and establish MISSION Therapeutics as a World-leader in the DUB field. More importantly, it will enable us to expand our search for new solutions to treat life-threatening diseases such as cancer”, commented Anker Lundemose, Chief Executive Officer, MISSION Therapeutics.

MISSION Therapeutics has received funding from the eighth round of the Biomedical Catalyst (BMC), a joint programme run by the Medical Research Council and the government’s innovation experts: Innovate UK (IUK). This fund supports UK academics and small to medium-sized businesses seeking to take their research from discovery through to commercialisation to deliver patient benefit.

A current lack of DUB inhibitors in clinical development

DUBs are increasingly being considered as attractive therapeutic targets due to their relevance to many diseases such as cancer, inflammation, neurodegeneration, muscle wasting and infectious disease. However, despite significant efforts within the pharmaceutical sector, there is a lack of DUB inhibitors in clinical development. MISSION Therapeutics is a World-leading expert in DUB drug discovery with the scientific know-how to produce multiple DUB inhibitors as viable drug candidates. In this Innovate UK-funded project, MISSION will use its proprietary and unique technology platform to identify novel chemical entities targeting a particular DUB that lies at a key node of oncogenic signaling. Ultimately, these inhibitors, with first-in-class potential, will be used for treating malignancies with high unmet need for the benefit of cancer sufferers worldwide.