In an atypical collaboration, drug developers AstraZeneca and Merck & Co are planning to test their respective early-stage cancer treatments together – AstraZeneca’s AZD6244 and Merck’s MK-2206.

According to the two companies, the results of pre-clinical studies have revealed that the combination of the two targeted therapies has the potential of developing into an effective anti-cancer drug.

While AstraZeneca’s AZD6244 compound is presently in mid-stage development as a potential treatment for various kinds of tumors; the Merck MK-2206 compound is currently in early-stage studies with general focus on treatment of solid tumors.

The AstraZeneca compound largely blocks Mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 - a biochemical indicator advancing growth of cancer cell; whereas the Merck compound affects AKT, the phosphatidylinositol-3 kinase component - a significant indication that promotes cancer cell survival.

With the two compounds having gone past the laboratory phase of development, they will be co-directed through the early Phase I clinical assessment. Thereafter, both the drug-makers, who are sharing the costs, will work out the advanced development of the drug for the treatment of solid cancer tumors.

The AstraZeneca-Merck tie-up is the first of its kind between drug companies in an early stage of development of a drug. Most of the other combined anti-cancer drug treatments by other companies are generally developed either when the medicines reach the late-stage testing or when they hit the markets!