Astex Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s Pyramid fragment-based discovery platform turns out small-molecule drug candidates with a variety of mechanisms of action, but the program is not so much about inventing new drugs as it is inventing drugs that can be used to amplify the effects of existing drugs or resensitize cancers to their effects.
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” John Lyons, Astex head of translational research, said in an interview on the sidelines of the AACR meeting. “Using our drugs, we’re trying to...