Therapeutics
References 1 American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2018. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2018. 2 US Cancer Statistics Working Group. US Cancer Statistics Data Visualizations Tool, based on November 2017 submission data (1999- 2015): US Dept of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Cancer Institute (June 2018). Available at:
www.cdc.gov/cancer/dataviz. 3World Health Organization. Cancer (1 Feb 2018). Available at:
http://www.who.int/news- room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer. 4 Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Biopharmaceutical research & development: the process behind new medicines (Aug 20, 2015). Available at: http://phrma-
docs.phrma.org/sites/default/fil es/pdf/rd_brochure_022307. pdf. 5 Ashton, TM, McKenna, WG, Kunz-Schughart, LA, Higgins, GS. Oxidative Phosphorylation as an Emerging Target in Cancer Therapy. Clin Cancer Res. 2018;24:2482-2490. 6 Molina, JR, Sun, Y, Protopopova, M et al. An inhibitor of oxidative phosphorylation exploits cancer vulnerability. Nat Med. 2018 Jun 11. [Epub ahead of print]. 7 Lissanu Deribe, Y, Sun, Y, Terranova, C et al. Mutations in the SWI/SNF complex induce a targetable dependence on oxidative phosphorylation in lung cancer. Nat Med. 2018 Jun 8. [Epub ahead of print].
would fly under the radar of other institutions. An important message for smaller cancer centres and community physicians is that if one of their patients seems to be out of treatment options, it is worth- while consulting with the nearest comprehensive cancer center, such as MD Anderson, for additional assistance before considering hospice care. We often have multiple clinical trials underway for patients with refractory or relapsed disease, and we hope to make more physicians aware of the poten- tially-beneficial therapeutic agents available to their patients through enrolment in these studies. Enrolment in clinical trials is not only beneficial for patients but clinical research as a whole. We believe that if other centres prioritised clinical trial enrol- ment to the same extent as MD Anderson, we could drive clinical research forward much more rapidly and efficiently than we do today.
Breaking down walls with new collaborations Our approach to drug development already has captured the attention of pharmaceutical compa- nies, leading to beneficial collaborations that con- tinue to bring the bench and bedside closer. Many of the programmes developed by Therapeutics Discovery are already partnered with biopharma companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Astellas Pharma and Ipsen, while others have attracted the attention of venture capital investors to provide additional funding to accelerate the programmes. For instance, at MD Anderson we are collaborat- ing with BridgeBio Pharma and have created a new company called Navire Pharma, with the primary aim of developing drugs that inhibit a tyrosine-pro- tein phosphatase called SHP2. This phosphatase provides an important link to the RAS/ERK MAPK pathway involved in cellular proliferation and sur- vival; excessive activation of this pathway has been found to contribute to many forms of cancer as well as resistance to targeted therapies. It is important to remember as well that many
cancer patients need more than just treatments to reduce or eradicate their tumours; they also need therapeutic approaches that can help alleviate the side effects of therapy and improve their quality of life. To this end, MD Anderson has partnered with Accelerator Life Science Partners to launch Magnolia Neurosciences Corporation. Using research from Therapeutics Discovery, this compa- ny will develop medicine to treat neurological problems that patients may experience after under- going chemotherapy, such as ‘chemobrain’ (a con- dition associated with memory loss and general cognitive problems) and peripheral neuropathy.
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Conclusion Clinical development of cancer drugs remains a costly and time-consuming process. We believe that many of the improvements in this process made by the Therapeutics Discovery division at MD Anderson over the past several years – above all else, answering only to our patients – represent key building blocks in the long-term goal of eradi- cating cancer and improving the lives of patients worldwide.
DDW
Dr Phil Jones is VP for Therapeutics Discovery and Head of Drug Discovery for the Institute of Applied Cancer Science at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. He has more than 22 years of drug discovery experience. Jones earned his PhD from The University of Nottingham and completed his postdoctoral research at Philipps-Universität Marburg.
Drug Discovery World Fall 2018
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