Cancer Research U.K. and its commercial arm, Cancer Research Technology (CRT), have joined with Astellas Pharma to conduct a two-year research program in the U.K. to find new drug targets in the fight against cancer, with an initial focus on pancreatic cancer.

Certain pancreatic cancers are dependent on autophagy, the process of consuming your own cellular parts for energy in order to grow. Blocking this pathway may help stop some pancreatic cancers.

The first stage aims to identify and then validate the best possible drug targets to block the autophagy pathway in pancreatic cancer cells. This research will be carried out by Professor Kevin Ryan at the Cancer Research U.K. Beatson Institute and Dr. Sharon Tooze at the Cancer Research U.K. London Research Institute. Astellas has an exclusive license to progress the most promising candidates through further drug discovery and development, subject to certain milestone and royalty payments to CRT.

Professor Kevin Ryan, a Cancer Research U.K. scientist based at the Cancer Research U.K. Beatson Institute, said, "This is an exciting opportunity to develop new drugs for pancreatic cancer where there is an urgent need for new treatments. Research suggests that pancreatic cancer can be dependent on autophagy making it an excellent pathway to target for drug discovery."

Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D., senior vice president and chief strategy officer, Astellas, said, "Since May 2013, Astellas has invited researchers from around the world to collaborate to increase drug discovery opportunities and expand development pipelines. The aim is to establish links with overseas researchers who have ideas that possess a high level of novelty and creativity. This consortium with Cancer Research U.K. and CRT is one of the collaborations to be achieved through this global initiative."

New treatments are desperately needed for pancreatic cancer—one of the deadliest forms of cancer. Every year 8,800 people are diagnosed with the disease in the U.K. but survival rates remain very low, with only 3% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer surviving their disease for five years or more after their diagnosis.