and Taiho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. entered into a new partnership with Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, New Jersey, USA (known as MSD outside the USA and Canada) through a subsidiary, and this partnership was extended in 2021. Clinical pipeline Astex has a pipeline of investigational compounds currently in various stages of clinical development. Several compounds from drug discovery collaborations with Astex have been advanced by Astex’s biopharma partners into clinical trials and onto the market, including ribociclib (brand name “Kisqali”), a CDK4/CDK6 inhibitor discovered in collaboration with Novartis, subsequent to an original collaboration on FGFR inhibitors between Astex and Newcastle University, that was granted approval in the US and EU in 2017 for the treatment of breast cancer. Erdafitinib (brand name “Balversa”) is an FGFR inhibitor that was discovered with Janssen Pharmaceuticals (a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson), and received FDA market approval for the treatment of metastatic urothelial carcinoma in 2019. References Further reading Astex Pharmaceuticals website Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Pharmaceutical companies of England 1999 establishments in England Otsuka Pharmaceutical