Astellas, Medivation to develop, commercialize MDV3100 for treatment of prostate cancer

Astellas Pharma Inc. of Japan and California's Medivation Inc. have announced a global agreement to develop and commercialize MDV3100, a chemical compound developed in UCLA science laboratories that is now Medivation's investigational drug for the treatment of prostate cancer. MDV3100 is currently being evaluated in the Phase 3 AFFIRM clinical trial in men with castration-resistant prostate cancer who were previously treated with docetaxel-based chemotherapy. Michael Jung, UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and a researcher at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center , and his research group designed and synthesized the molecule that became MDV3100. The molecule was tested in biology research that was conducted in the UCLA departments of medicine, urology and pharmacology by Charles Sawyers and his research group; Sawyers has since moved to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, where he serves as chair of the human oncology and pathogenesis program. Medivation Inc.