Aurora kinases are mitotic kinases which have been shown  to have essential roles in the abnormal proliferation of tumour cells. Aurora  kinase inhibitors are able to selectively induce apoptosis and inhibit tumour  cell proliferation through their ability to inhibit cytokinesis. Reflecting the emerging importance of  multi-targeted kinase inhibitors for the treatment of cancer, Chroma is currently optimising a number of structurally distinct molecules with differing kinase activity profiles for selection of a pre-clinical development candidate(s) during 2007.