Selectide Corp. of Tucson, Ariz., said Tuesday it has received afour-year grant from the National Cancer Institute that willprovide more than $3.1 million for the development of peptide-based, anti-cancer drugs.

The grant establishes a National Cooperative Drug DiscoveryGroup to support the work of scientists from The University ofArizona, New York University Medical School, the Max-PlanckInstitut Fur Biochemie in Germany, as well as those atSelectide.

Commercial applications will be developed by Selectide incooperation with Sugen Inc.

The scientists will concentrate on identifying peptides thatare active against various types of cancers.

Technology developed at The University of Arizona and licensedexclusively to Selectide permits the simultaneous generationof millions of small protein molecules known as peptides, eachof which is located on a different reference bead.

They are screened to identify those that are capable ofinhibiting cancer cell growth, and those will be studied inhuman clinical trials.

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