CrownBio Licenses Translational Breast Cancer Models of Resistance and Metastasis

(San Diego, Calif., September 18, 2018) — Crown Bioscience, a global drug discovery and development services company providing translational platforms to advance oncology, inflammation, cardiovascular and metabolic disease research, has reached an agreement with the University of Utah to license and commercialize the university’s unique collection of patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models for breast cancer.

The models include multiple triple negative breast cancer models, models that display therapy resistance and models that express clinically relevant mutations such as BRCA1 and ESR1.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer affecting women worldwide with the leading cause of death attributed to metastasis. While there have been significant improvements in how breast cancer is diagnosed and treated, innovative treatment approaches that prevent metastasis and overcome resistance are still needed. To develop these novel therapies, researchers need highly characterized models that recapitulate the complexity and heterogeneity of human disease.

These well published breast cancer models were developed by Alana Welm, PhD, a cancer researcher at Huntsman Cancer Institute and an associate professor in the department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah whose research focuses on breast cancer metastasis and how it is influenced by tumor-host interactions.

CrownBio provides the world’s largest commercially available collection of PDX models and is a leading service provider for preclinical evaluation of cancer therapies. Leveraging these capabilities, CrownBio will market a set of new, highly characterized breast cancer models alongside their industry leading collection of more than 2500 PDX models (HuPrime®).

“CrownBio provides the biopharmaceutical community with preclinical solutions that enable the exploration of new treatment strategies, and improved translation to the clinic,” said Jean-Pierre Wery, PhD., CrownBio’s CEO. He continued, “By licensing and commercializing Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah’s breast cancer models, these valuable, translational models are made available to breast cancer researchers worldwide.”

CrownBio is a global drug discovery and development solutions company providing translational platforms to advance oncology, inflammation, cardiovascular and metabolic disease research. With an extensive portfolio of relevant models and predictive tools, CrownBio enables clients to deliver superior clinical candidates.

For more information about Crown Bioscience’s translational platforms, visit https://www.crownbio.com.