OBI Pharma Inc., of Taipei, Taiwan, said it entered an agreement with Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc., of South San Francisco, to acquire TH-3424, a small-molecule prodrug that selectively targets cancers overexpressing the enzyme aldo-keto reductase 1c3 (AKR1C3), and the product will be renamed OBI-3424. AKR1C3 overexpression has been documented in a number of treatment-resistant and difficult to treat cancers, including hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), and OBI-3424 has demonstrated potent activities in preclinical models of HCC, including a model resistant to the standard-of-care treatment, Nexavar (sorafenib, Bayer AG).