Many tumors depend on growth factors, receptors and enzymes within biological pathways for proliferation, survival and differentiation. The growth factors interact with proteins in the cell membrane, including proteins called Type I receptor kinases, that transmit their growth signals into the cell through a cascade of enzymatic events. These receptors, including EGFR, ErbB-2, VEGF and PDGF, are found to be over-expressed, or over-activated, in numerous human tumors. Array’s programs focus on blocking multiple points along these pathways through targeted therapies offering a more specific approach than first generation, cytotoxic chemotherapies. By regulating discrete aspects of cellular functions that affect cancer cells to a greater extent than normal cells we can provide an improved side effect profile and increased efficacy. We believe cancer will eventually become a chronic disease, treated with a combination of targeted therapies. Array’s research focuses on creating orally active drugs that target novel mechanisms and are superior or complementary to other therapies.

Current Activities:

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately 10.5 million Americans with a history of cancer were alive in January 2003 and more than 1.4 million new cases were diagnosed in 2007.

Estimated new cases in 2007
Prostate – 219,000
Lung – 213,000
Breast – 181,000
Colon – 112,000
Melanoma – 60,000
Pancreas – 37,000