The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University announced today a broadly-based agreement with Human Genome Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: HGSI), a leading biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of genomics-based therapeutics.
The research collaboration will facilitate Human Genome Sciences'' discovery and development of therapeutic anti-cancer targets and allow Cancer Center scientists access to the technologies and bioinformatics available at Human Genome Sciences.
Wake Forest will provide malignant and normal tissues, as well as expertise in cancer biology, resulting in joint research projects involving the molecular evaluation of anti-cancer targets and the optimization of appropriate targets in anti-cancer drug development. Human Genome Sciences will provide expertise in the discovery of gene-based therapeutics, sequencing and gene expression analysis to investigators at Wake Forest''s Cancer Center. Through the collaboration scientists and researchers at Wake Forest and Human Genome Sciences will seek to accelerate the rate of scientific discovery, and potentially identify novel therapeutics targeting various types of cancer.
The collaboration provides Human Genome Sciences an opportunity to identify gene candidates that may serve as potential targets in the treatment of cancer and other diseases through a therapeutic antibody approach. In addition, this research could help Human Genome Sciences identify other genes that may provide insight into the role of proteins as novel therapeutics and potentially small molecule targets for HGSI and future collaborators.
"This is an important step for the Comprehensive Cancer Center," said Frank M. Torti, M.D., Director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. "We are working with one of the top biotechnology firms to move ahead cancer research and to provide an opportunity for our investigators to access technology important for their own research. I am delighted that we are working together."
Steve Ruben, Ph.D., Vice President, Research, Human Genome Sciences, said, "One of the most important factors in being able to understand the role of genes in developing therapeutics is having access to high quality samples that represent both diseased and normal tissues. The collaboration with the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Wake Forest University will provide Human Genome Sciences access to such samples, and by applying our unique discovery approach, we hope to discover numerous therapeutic and target candidates."
###
Contact: Jonnie Rohrer, (336) 716-6972, Mark Wright or Bob Conn, (336) 716-4587.