Cancer charity is to “borrow” candidate drugs shelved by companies

In a major initiative to develop new cancer drugs Cancer Research UK will “borrow” candidate drugs that have previously been shelved by drug companies so it can further explore their potential, under a special arrangement announced last week.

The initiative, called Clinical Development Partnerships, will mean that Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Technology, the charity's development and commercialisation arm, will be able to use drugs that companies have developed but decided not to develop commercially.

The charity will effectively borrow a drug from a company and conduct early clinical trials at no cost to the company. If the drug looks promising the company retains the option to develop and market the drug, but the charity will get a share of any revenue.

Harpal Kumar, chief executive of Cancer Research Technology and chief operating …