Domainex, a UK-based drug discovery company, was awarded a £250,000 grant by the UK's Technology Strategy Board to support development of a new cancer drug. The drug inhibits two protein kinases, TBK1 and IKKε, that are important in cancer cell growth. Initial focus will be on breast and ovarian cancers which have poor survival rates. The funding will allow Domainex to hire scientists and advance the drug through preclinical testing towards commercialization with a pharmaceutical partner.

1. Press Release
Domainex Awarded Technology Strategy Board Funding to Support its
Research into a Novel Cancer Drug
Cambridge, UK, 1st November 2011.
Domainex Ltd., the UK-based drug discovery company focused on speed and
innovation, has been awarded a £250,000 grant by the Technology Strategy
Board - the UK’s national innovation agency - to help support the development of
a new drug for the treatment of several common cancers.
Domainex’s novel drug will work by inhibiting two closely-related protein kinase
enzymes, TBK1 and IKKε. Recent studies carried out by academic groups and
by Domainex have shown that blocking these protein kinases will stop certain
cancer cell lines from growing, suggesting that inhibitors of these enzymes can
be used for the treatment of cancer. Furthermore, these enzymes are also
important in some inflammatory diseases, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes: and so
Domainex’s drug could have exciting wider applications.
Domainex’s initial attention will be focused on breast and ovarian cancers.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Every year it affects over a
million women worldwide and is the leading cause of death for women aged 40-
44. The five-year survival rate for Stage V cancer patients (advanced disease
progression) is just 16%. Ovarian cancer is rarely diagnosed in its early stages
and is usually quite advanced by the time diagnosis is made, resulting in poor
prognoses. The five-year survival rate for all stages is only 35% to 38%.
Domainex’s Research Director, Trevor Perrior, said: “A TBK1/IKKε inhibitor
would have a significant impact on patients with breast, ovarian and possibly
other cancers, leading to a better quality of life, and improved survival rates. The
novel mode of action will allow the treatment of patients with drug-resistant triple-
negative tumours which are of increasing importance in the clinic.”
Domainex’s TBK1/IKKe programme has already identified potent, selective and
drug-like inhibitors. These inhibitors have been shown to be effective in inhibiting
several cancer cell lines. Domainex’s research objective is to identify a
Candidate Drug that is effective in disease models and would be orally well-
absorbed by humans. The subsequent commercialization of this new drug would
be undertaken in partnership with a large pharmaceutical company which has the
resources to take the drug through clinical trials and to the marketplace.

2. The CEO of Domainex, Eddy Littler, commented: “Domainex is presently a
leader in this field. The funding of this proposal will allow Domainex to recruit a
number of scientists, preserving highly-skilled drug discovery jobs in the UK.
Given recent trends in the pharmaceutical industry it is very likely that the future
of drug research in this country will be based largely upon the success and
growth of biotechnology companies such as Domainex. We thank the TSB for its
support.”
- ENDS -

3. Editors Notes:
About The Technology Strategy Board
• The Technology Strategy Board is a business-led government body which works to
create economic growth by ensuring that the UK is a global leader in innovation.
Sponsored by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), the
Technology Strategy Board brings together business, research and the public
sector, supporting and accelerating the development of innovative products and
services to meet market needs, tackle major societal challenges and help build the
future economy. For more information please visit www.innovateuk.org
• The funding was awarded by the Technology Strategy Board through its Grant for
Research and Development scheme. This offers funding to small and medium-
sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage in R&D projects in the strategically important
areas of science, engineering and technology, from which successful new products,
processes and services could emerge. The scheme supports R&D projects which
offer potentially significant rewards and could stimulate UK economic growth.
About Domainex
• Domainex uses unique and proprietary technologies to resolve common bottlenecks
facing the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries in the post-genomic era.
Major discovery 'gaps' exist between the vast amount of genomic information that is
now available, the accessibility of the corresponding proteins for use in target
validation and drug discovery, and the identification of robust hits in a cost effective
manner. Founded in 2002, Domainex is a privately owned company based in
Cambridge, UK.
• Domainex has developed a discovery platform, which enables rapid progression of
drug discovery projects from novel target through to Candidate Drug by means of its
Combinatorial Domain Hunting technology, LeadBuilder virtual hit screening
software, and its integrated approach to medicinal and computational chemistry.
• Domainex’s patented CDH technology enables the cloning and expression of soluble
drug target protein domains in E. coli, followed by the identification of those
constructs that are able to bind a ligand. This enables binding assays to be
developed, facilitating hit identification studies. In only 3-4 months, all expressible
ligand binding domains of a target protein are identified (from libraries of 20,000-
100,000 constructs), enabling key rate limiting steps in early drug discovery to be
easily overcome and resulting in large time savings over standard approaches.
• Domainex has also developed LeadBuilder - a virtual screening approach for targets
which is specifically aimed at quickly identifying hit molecules that are ideally suited
for further development.
• The experienced medicinal chemistry team has a proven track record in supporting
biotech or university groups by providing expertise to take hit compounds through
lead optimization and on to candidate selection. Three compounds to date arising
from these collaborations are currently in clinical evaluation, with two additional
drugs in preclinical studies.

4. • For more information see: www.domainex.co.uk or contact:
Joanne McCudden
Head of Business Development
Joanne.mccudden@domainex.co.uk
Tel +44 (0)1993 201 801
Dr Eddy Littler, CEO of Domainex is available for interview.