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U.K. Partnership to Test Cancer Drug Combinations

Chemotherapy (National Institutes of Health)

(National Institutes of Health)

Cancer Research U.K., a London-based organization supporting cancer research, has signed an agreement with the global pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to take combinations of experimental cancer drugs into early phase clinical trials. The trials will be held at hospitals in the U.K. taking part in the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre (ECMC) Network.

The agreement is expected to increase patient access to trials of potential new cancer treatments that combine molecularly targeted experimental drugs developed by AstraZeneca. The trials will also test these combinations against conventional chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and newer technologies.

One objective of the trials is to test the prospect that combination therapy using a number of molecularly targeted drugs may decrease the chance of patients developing resistance to any individual drug. This resistance is believed to develop due to different types of drugs attacking faults in cancer cells at different points.

AstraZeneca will provide access to its drugs tested in the trials as well as additional financial support. Cancer Research U.K. will also hold workshops with the ECMC Network and AstraZeneca to identify promising combinations of experimental treatments to test.

Read More: Fund Established to Develop Cancer Vaccines

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