Astex Pharmaceuticals celebrates first 25 years of biotechnology success in Cambridge
Astex Pharmaceuticals has been celebrating a very successful first 25 years following a visit from Science minister Patrick Vallance last week.
Astex Pharmaceuticals was formed in 1999 by current CEO Dr Harren Jhoti, Prof Sir Tom Blundell and Roberto Solari – both scientific advisers today – and the late Prof Chris Abell.
“The visit by Lord Vallance, science minister and Oxford-Cambridge Innovation Champion, is our formal external celebration to mark our 25 years of life science innovation,” said Dr Jhoti.
In fact the two had a previous connection. From 2012 to 2018, Lord Vallance was president of R&D at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK): Astex had inked a deal worth £20m upfront with GSK in 2009, and the partnership – based on Astex’s fragment-based drug discovery platform, Pyramid – has since achieved multiple milestones on various targets of interest to GSK.
Pyramid, backed by leading venture capital firms, has also established multiple partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Novartis and Janssen, as well as GSK.
Today Astex, having been acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceutical in 2013 for $900m, employs 200 people in two buildings on Cambridge Science Park. Its most recent success has been Kisqali, a selective cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor, a class of drug that helps slow the progression of cancer by inhibiting two proteins (CDK4 & CDK6) which, when over-activated, can enable cancer cells to grow and divide quickly. Kisqali is a registered trademark of Novartis AG and is on track to be an $8bn per year drug for the Swiss pharma giant.
We asked Dr Jhoti to reflect on the last quarter-century.
“Astex was founded in 1999, so we reached our 25th year anniversary in 2024,” said the CEO and co-founder who was awarded an OBE in 2022.
“Internally we celebrated our achievements mid-year at an all-hands event and family open day. We also invited external partners who have contributed to our success to join us during visits over last year. At the end of the year several of our colleagues from Otsuka visited Astex to acknowledge our success and contribution to the group
“The visit by Lord Vallance, science minister and Oxford-Cambridge Innovation Champion, was our formal external celebration to mark our 25 years of life science innovation. In addition to Lord Vallance, we were joined on the day by a number of industry and academic leaders to discuss opportunities and challenges faced by the life sciences sector in Cambridge and the UK so the sector’s success can continue into the next decade.“
Astex plans to expand its investment in the Cambridge life sciences ecosystem by establishing a brand-new R&D facility, and more broadly in the UK, in the coming years.
“The Astex strategy is that products we discover will be further developed and commercialised through operating subsidiaries within the Otsuka group in the major markets worldwide as well as through selective strategic collaborations with other pharma partners globally. We currently have active partnership programs with Merck Sharpe and Dohme (MSD).
“We are also active in investing in the next generation of entrepreneurs. Astex has established the Sustaining Innovation Postdoctoral Training Program which aims to maintain and further enhance Astex’s excellent scientific culture. This is an opportunity for scientists to join a diverse and dynamic team exploring new ideas that are relevant to and may enhance its drug discovery approach.
“Approximately 10 postdoctoral scientists join the program per year and 24 postdoctoral scientists have successfully completed the program.”
Dr Jhoti added: “Much of my time is spent on broader strategic activities within our parent company Otsuka in addition to helping to steer the continual development of Astex both in technology and corporate development.”
