BeyondSpring Pharmaceuticals, a clinical stage biopharma focused on the development of cancer therapies including a Phase III immuno-oncology compound Plinabulin, has entered into a five-year collaboration agreement with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to develop oncology therapeutics and diagnostics in the company’s pipeline.

The collaboration will be led by Eric Holland, senior vice president and director of the human biology division at Fred Hutchinson. The cancer center will provide up to six new projects per year as potential groundbreaking cancer treatment or diagnostics options for license to the company. BeyondSpring brings to the partnership an experienced research and development team that has brought multiple oncology products to market and sufficient resources to advance agents to global Phase III trials. Together, the two aim to identify promising assets and advance them to late-stage development for the treatment of a variety of cancer types.

BeyondSpring and Fred Hutchinson will conduct a range of pre-clinical and clinical studies for selected candidates as part of the research program for which BeyondSpring will provide funding.