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THE ASP NEWSLETTER VOLUME 51, ISSUE 3 PAGE 8
Andersen Receives Farnsworth Award
By Michael Mullowney
A
SP member Dr. Raymond Andersen, professor
in the Department of Chemistry and the Depart-
ment of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
at the University of British Colombia since 1977,
was honored on Wednesday, July 29 with the Norman R.
Farnsworth ASP Research Achievement Award at the ASP
annual meeting in Copper Moun-
tain, Colorado. The history of this
award spans three decades and
was renamed to honor the late
Dr. Norman R. Farnsworth when
he was the award’s recipient in
2005.
Dr. Susan Mooberry of the Uni-
versity of Texas Health Science
Center at San Antonio introduced
Dr. Andersen, whose accolades
include the co-founding of two
biotech start-up companies, and
among several other honors, re-
ceiving the ASP Arthur E. Schwart-
ing Award in 2003. Dr. Andersen
began his award lecture entitled
“Sponging off Nature for New
Drug Leads,” by displaying the
names of his legions of past and
present PhD students, post docs,
research assistants, lab techni-
cians, and sabbatical visitors,
thanking them generously, stating
“this award should be theirs.” An-
dersen also expressed his “debt
of gratitude” to collaborating re-
search groups and funding orga-
nizations that have made his suc-
cesses possible. The core of the
presentation that followed highlighted the development of
the Andersen lab’s most promising drug leads into viable,
marketable drug candidates currently in clinical trials.
ASP President, Dr. Edward Kennelly commented, “I con-
gratulate Ray Andersen on receiving the ASP Farnsworth
Achievement Award. His seminal work in the eld of ma-
rine natural products has led to the discovery of impor-
tant compounds as drug leads. Throughout his storied
career, he has mentored a number of ASP members, and
collaborated in major research projects with others. I wish
him continued success.”
Since his beginnings with the ASP more than 30 years
ago, Andersen has maintained relationships with many
key members, at times serving
as mentor or collaborator. Nota-
bly, Professor Roger Linington,
the 2014 recipient of the Matt
Suffness Award, received his PhD
from UBC under the guidance of
Dr. Andersen. Following the men-
tion of the great number of Ander-
sen’s students who now occupy
leadership positions in both in-
dustry and academia, Dr. Lining-
ton remarked, “From my own ex-
perience, exposure to the power
of integrating synthetic chemistry
with natural products discovery
and high value assay systems has
certainly shaped the way my own
program has developed. I’m sure
that many other Andersen alumni
have similar observations of how
Ray’s guidance has made them
more careful and thoughtful sci-
entists and shaped their scientic
careers.”
Additionally, Andersen fondly
recalls collaborating in “a highly
rewarding and enjoyable” NIH Na-
tional Cooperative Drug Discov-
ery/Development Group (NCDDG)
titled ‘Anticancer Agents from
Unique Natural Products Sources’ with Chris Ireland, Jon
Clardy, and Guy Carter, all current members and past
presidents of the ASP. “This collaboration was a very im-
portant part of our research efforts between 1990 and
2010 and it gave me an invaluable inside look at Big Phar-
ma drug discovery efforts,” Andersen stated. Clearly, this
Dr. Raymond Andersen
GRETCHEN KELLEY PHOTOGRAPHY
Andersen dened his research program as the search for bioactive marine
natural products for use as molecular probes and drug leads.
With a focus on marine sponges as the source, his aim has been to address
unmet medical needs by screening molecules against unique targets.
continued on page 9
THE ASP NEWSLETTER VOLUME 51, ISSUE 3 PAGE 9
was a perspective that would prove invaluable for his own
ventures in the
pharmaceutical industry.
Setting the foundation for his talk, Andersen dened
his research program as the search for bioactive marine
natural products for use as molecular probes and drug
leads. With a focus on marine sponges as the source,
his aim has been to address unmet medical needs by
screening molecules against unique targets. Making light
of the sample collection approach in natural products, he
cited David Newman’s quote, “If it is slow moving, brightly
colored, and has no shell – we want it.” Andersen then
told the story of the sintokamides from a Dysidea sp. col-
lected in Indonesia. This class of chlorinated peptides
and their synthetic derivatives were revealed to exhibit
a novel mode of androgen receptor (AR) binding at the
N-terminus. With great selectivity, they inhibited AR-depen-
dent proliferation in castration-resistant prostate cancer
(CRPC), for which there are few treatment options. The
co-discovery of this new AR receptor target with the Dr.
Marianne D. Sadar lab led to their increased interest in
treating CRPC by nding new inhibitors with this mode of
action, which in turn progressed to Andersen’s co-found-
ing of ESSA Pharma. Professor Andersen is “a rm be-
liever in the need for interested academic scientists to
get involved as entrepreneurs in the drug development
process” and cites his own decision to do so twenty years
ago as a dening moment in his career.
He continued the lecture, noting the $30 million in
venture capital that was raised to found ESSA, with the
purpose of advancing their most potent AR N-terminal
domain-targeting sponge-derived drug lead, EPI-506, to
clinical trials. This bridging of natural products discovery
in academia to further development in pharma has so far
been a considerable success, with plans for the rst pros-
tate cancer patient to be dosed with EPI-506 in a clinical
trial during the 3rd quarter of 2015.
Andersen also spoke of the synthetic optimization of
pelorol from a sponge in Papua New Guinea after its dis-
covery in an assay designed to identify SHIP1 activators
that would modulate PI3K cell signaling as a treatment
for inammatory disorders and cancer. The compound has
been further optimized to improve solubility and potency
under Andersen’s second biotech rm Aquinox Pharma-
ceuticals, a company solely focused on the development
of SHIP1 activators. He gave an inspiring account of the
rm’s second lead compound, contignasterol, a novel
sponge natural product discovered in the Andersen lab at
UBC. The molecule was initially developed as a treatment
for asthma but failed in phase II clinical trials. Andersen
explained that under Aquinox, a synthetic analog of the
natural product called AQX-1125 successfully completed
multiple preclinical studies. In the time since, it has ad-
vanced to Phase II development for the treatment of asth-
ma, inammatory bladder pain (interstitial cystitis), atopic
dermatitis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
“My involvement in these companies has taken me
in new scientic directions that I would never have envi-
sioned otherwise…” Andersen stated in a later interview.
And he encourages younger researchers to call upon the
same kind of courage that he has displayed by embarking
on his entrepreneurial endeavors: “Follow your curiosity
and don’t try to do what everyone else is doing. Have the
condence to nd your own path.” Andersen stands as
testament that achievement of success in natural product
drug discovery is possible and likely reliant on this sort
of ethic.
His tenacity for the development of his leads as market-
able therapeutics has resulted in many successes, even
since the Norman R. Farnsworth Award lecture. A week
following the ASP meeting in Copper Mountain, Aquinox
Pharmaceuticals announced that their lead compound
AQX1125 cleared phase II clinical trials with positive data
and plans to move into phase III trials as a prelude to
registration and clinical use.
“The previous recipients of the Norman R. Farnsworth
Award are a distinguished and inspirational group of natu-
ral products chemists who have been my scientic heroes
and role models throughout my career,” Andersen stated
humbly in a private interview. “I am delighted and deeply
honored to join this group as a recipient of the ASP Nor-
man R. Farnsworth Award.”
n
Andersen Receives Farnsworth Award
“If it is slow moving, brightly colored, and has no shell – we want it.”
“Follow your curiosity and don’t try to do what everyone else is doing.
Have the condence to nd your own path.”
continued from page 8