Monash discovery central to record-breaking licensing deal

Professor Stephen Jane, Head of Central
Clinical School, Monash University

A suite of drugs developed by the Cancer Therapeutics Cooperative Research Centre (CTx) from early Monash research has just been licensed to global healthcare leader MSD, known as Merck in the US and Canada, in what is believed to be one of the largest preclinical licensing deals involving an Australian discovery.

The drugs – which are inhibitors of protein arginine methyltransferase 5 (PRMT5) – have potential clinical applications in both cancer and non-cancer blood disorders.

The importance of PRMT5 was first discovered by Professor Stephen Jane, Head of the Monash Central Clinical School, who initiated the search for inhibitory drugs.