Nexus BioPharma has signed a contract to license TransChem's transition state chemistry technology for kinase inhibition. Kinases are enzymes that regulate essential cellular processes. The United States Food and Drug Administration's milestone approval in 2001 of the first kinase inhibitor, imatinib, was followed by a steady approval of kinase inhibitors over the next 10 years. To date, the FDA has approved 28 small-molecule kinase inhibitors, half of which were approved in the last three years. The overall kinase inhibitor market is estimated by BCC Research to reach USD 40.2 billion in 2016.