SANTA CLARA, CA (NOVEMBER 26 2013) – SHANGHAI INSTITUTE OF MATERIA MEDICA (SIMM), CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES (CAS) AND CROWN BIOSCIENCE, INC., ANNOUNCED TODAY THAT THEY HAVE REACHED AN AGREEMENT TO FORM A STRATEGIC COLLABORATION FOCUSED ON TRANSLATIONAL ONCOLOGY AND TO JOIN FORCES TO BUILD A MOUSE CLINICAL TRIAL (MCT) CENTER AT CROWN TAICANG CAMPUS, TAICANG, JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINA –SIMM-CROWN MOUSE CLINICAL TRIAL CENTER, OR SCMC.
This strategic partnership aims at building the world first and largest mouse clinical center featuring the largest and most advanced translational oncology platforms with fully annotated collections of patient derived xenograft (PDX) models. The immediate focus of the Center will be to combine the existing model collections of both organizations (approaching a thousand) and build several thousand more new models focusing on major Asian cancer types, including liver (HCC), lung (NSCLC), gastric (GC) and colorectal (CRC) cancers.
With this joint effort, the Center will dramatically expand the combined operational capacity to support global translational oncology efforts, particularly mouse clinical trial (HuTrialTM platform) or co-trial, supporting cancer research communities, cancer hospitals and the pharmaceutical industry. It will also utilize the strength of both organizations to advance PDX based translational oncology platforms, to advance our knowledge of cancer biology and to de-risk drug development. In particular, the Center will be able to help accelerate the development of SIMM’s pipeline of novel and rich targeted oncology drug candidates by leveraging Crown’s advanced oncology discovery and translational capabilities, including proprietary HuPrime®1.0, 2.0, 3.0, HuKemia®, HuTrialTM, HuSignatureTM platforms.
The signing of the agreement was held at SIMM headquarter in Shanghai, China, where Dr. Jian Ding, Director General of SIMM, a renowned cancer pharmacologist, a member of Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the Center’s first President, represented SIMM and Dr. Jean-Pierre Wery, Crown’s President represented Crown Bioscience. At the signing ceremony, Dr. Ding stated: “As the largest government-founded research institute focusing on drug development in China, SIMM aims at inventing more world-class drugs to benefit patients in China and worldwide. The premium oncology translational research platform based on PDX models will enable us to have a better understanding of our candidate drugs and to stratify the responsive subgroup patients for personalized therapy. SIMM is excited about the opportunity of building up a first class translation oncology center together with Crown to accelerate the development of precision medicines for oncology applications.”
Dr. Wery commented at the ceremony: “Crown plays a leading role in providing cutting-edge translational platforms and cost effective drug discovery solutions for almost all top pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Crown is very happy to partner with SIMM, the premium drug discovery CAS institute in China, to offer the world with first class translational oncology services, and ultimately benefit cancer patients all around the world. This center will further strengthen Crown’s leading position as the oncology discovery and translational medicine partner in the global market”.
For more information please email pr@mail.crownbio.com, call 001 855 827 6968 or visitwww.crownbio.com
About Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica
Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica (SIMM), Chinese Academy of Sciences, has the longest history as a comprehensive research institution for drug discovery in China. SIMM was evolved from Peking Institute of Materia Medica, Academia Sinica, founded in 1932. In line with frontiers in life sciences and aiming at solving key scientific problems in drug discovery, SIMM carries out both basic and applied studies and develops new theories, methods and technologies. Research priorities are given to treat major diseases, such as cancers, cardio-cerebrovascular diseases, neuropsychiatric diseases, metabolic diseases, autoimmune diseases, and infectious diseases. SIMM has developed and commercialized over 100 new drugs. Through several generations’ efforts, SIMM has become one of the leading interdisciplinary centers of excellence in China. It is recognized worldwide by its outstanding achievements and distinguished research team. For more information, please visit: http://english.simm.cas.cn/
About Crown Bioscience Inc.
Founded in 2006, Crown Bioscience is a premier drug discovery company providing cutting-edge translational platforms and cost effective drug discovery solutions for its biotech and pharmaceutical partners in dedicated therapeutic areas: Oncology and Metabolic Disease. Our proprietary HuPrime®, HuKemia®, HuBase™, HuTrial™, HuSignature™, HuBank ™, HuTissue™, and HuMark™ platforms enable unique lead optimization and translational strategies to deliver superior drug candidates. Headquartered in Santa Clara California, Crown Bioscience has global operations in China (Beijing and Jiangsu Taicang), the USA (NC), UK (Nottingham), and also with business offices in the Santa Clara, Boston, Princeton, RTP, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Milan and Shanghai. For more information, please visit http://www.crownbio.com.
For further press information please contact: Sarah Morley – The Scott Partnership, 1 Whiteside, Station Road, Holmes Chapel, Cheshire, CW4 8AA, United Kingdom. Tel: + 44 1477 539 539 Fax: +44 1477 539 540 E-mail: crown@scottpr.com