YM BioSciences Inc. was a Canadian drug development company primarily focused on advancing CYT-387, an orally administered inhibitor of both the JAK1 and JAK2 kinases, which have been implicated in a number of hematological and immune cell disorders including myeloproliferative neoplasms and inflammatory diseases as well as certain cancers.
The company also advanced other clinical-stage products, including Nimotuzumab, an EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibody, and CYT997, a vascular disrupting agent (VDA).
In 1994, the company created a joint venture with Centro de Inmunología Molecular (CCIMAB) in Cuba called CIMYM BioSciences.
After receiving approval from the Office of Foreign Asset Control in March 200, the first patient was treated at Doernbecher Children's Hospital of Oregon Health and Science University for inoperable, recurrent, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.
In 2010, after investing many years of lobbying the United States State Department, and, specifically, as a consequence of the assistance from Senators John Kerry, Christopher Dodd and Richard Lugar, YM was cleared by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to import Nimotuzumab for unlimited clinical development and was cleared by the FDA for Phase II trials in both Non-Small Cell Lung cancer and Brain Metastases from NSCLC.