Third Rock Ventures in financing cancer research by handing over $40 million to Blueprint Medicines, a company harnessing the understanding of the molecular blueprint of cancer to develop personalized, highly-selective cancer therapies.
Proceeds from the financing will be used to develop new cancer therapies, using the company’s proprietary compound library and Insights-to-Validation Platform that target the driver molecular aberrations of cancer and emerging resistance mechanisms unique to certain cancer patients.
Dr. Armistead, the founding chief scientific officer at Blueprint said in a release:
“Blueprint Medicines’ library of novel and highly-selective compounds serve as both invaluable chemistry tools as well as starting points for pharmaceutical drugs. Our world-class scientific team is using this library as part of our scientific strategy to develop programs powered by the understanding of cancer’s aberrant mechanisms.”
All the DNA contained in your cells makes up your genome. In most cells, the genome is packaged into two sets of chromosomes: one set from your mother and one set from your father. These chromosomes are composed of six billion individual DNA letters. In the English alphabet there are 26 letters: A through Z. In the alphabet of our genes there are four letters: A, C, G and T. Just like the letters in a book make words to tell a story, so do the letters in our genomes. Genomics is the study of the sequence of these letters in your DNA and how each string of letters passes information to help each cell in your body work properly.
In cancer cells, small changes in the genetic letters can change what a genomic word or sentence means. A changed letter can cause the cell to make a protein that doesn’t allow the cell to work as it should. These proteins can make cells grow quickly and cause damage to neighboring cells. By studying the cancer genome, scientists can discover what letter changes are causing a cell to become a cancer. The genome of a cancer cell can also be used to tell one type of cancer from another.
Nicholas Lydon, Ph.D., who co-founded Blueprint Medicines, adds:
“Over the past decade, targeted kinase inhibitors have been successfully designed, advanced into clinical trials and delivered to patients, forever changing the way cancer is treated. We are now at a crossroads where innovative drug discovery and development could again enable a transformative shift in cancer treatment. By leveraging the growing body of molecular and cancer genome data and focusing on patients with clearly defined molecular aberrations, Blueprint Medicines is positioned to develop the selective cancer treatments that will make this transformation possible.”
Blueprint Medicines’ founding advisors are world-renowned experts in cancer genomics, clinical oncology, biochemistry and rational drug development and bring proven ability to translate cancer research breakthroughs into meaningful treatments for patients.
Mark Levin, a long-time personalized medicine visionary, partner at Third Rock Ventures and former chief executive officer of Millennium Pharmaceuticals continues:
“The promise and potential of personalized cancer treatments has been anticipated for decades, and many have been working diligently to make them a reality. Today, with a veritable ‘revolution’ underway in our understanding of the molecular drivers of cancer, we are better positioned than ever to fully realize that promise. We are extremely excited to bring together this group of pioneers and leaders to form Blueprint Medicines to do just that.”
Sources:
Written by Sy Kraft