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- Posted Thursday October 20, 2005
TGen Awarded $15 Million to Discover and Develop New Therapies for Patients with Pancreatic Cancer
Grant focuses on bringing new technology to pancreatic
cancer
Phoenix, AZ, October 20, 2005-The Translational Genomics Research
Institute (TGen) has been awarded a five-year $15 million grant
from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to lead a group of
research centers in the discovery and development of new therapies
for patients with pancreatic cancer.
This federally funded multi-center program project grant is the
first of its kind that focuses exclusively on pancreatic cancer.
The grant funds three projects with the key theme of accelerating
the delivery of new treatments for patients with pancreatic cancer,
one new compound for each year of the grant. Dr. Daniel D. Von Hoff
will serve as the principal investigator for the study.
"Our goal is to develop one successful candidate molecule for each
year of the grant that can be offered to patients in order to turn
the tables on pancreatic cancer," said Dr. Von Hoff, Director of
TGen's Translational Drug Development Division and the grant's
principal investigator. "Our approach is unique in that it focuses
on the development of innovative translational ways to tackle the
disease."
With a 96% mortality rate, pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of
all cancers. Approximately 35,000 people in the U.S. will be
diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year and 31,800 people will
die. Pancreatic cancer does not discriminate by age, gender, or
race, and only 24 percent of patients will survive beyond one year.
The five-year survival rate is 4 percent. Despite the especially
lethal nature of pancreatic cancer, no effective early detection
methods have been developed, and there are very few effective
treatment options available to patients. At this time, the average
life expectancy after diagnosis with metastatic disease is just 3
to 6 months.
In addition to TGen, collaborators on the grant include the
Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona and the
University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Together, this
multidisciplinary group combines their strength in drug development
and the clinical care of patients with new molecular targets and
new genomic technologies to bring renewed hope and innovative
therapies to patients with pancreatic cancer.
"The time to do this innovative research project is now. The
assembled group of investigators with experience at both the lab
bench and the patients' bedside are uniquely positioned to develop
new therapies and diagnostics for this devastating disease," said
Dr. Jeffrey Trent, TGen's President and Scientific Director.
The grant funds three translational research projects designed to
accelerate the development of new drugs for this devastating
disease.
The first project focuses on the environment in which the tumor
grows. Investigators know that pancreatic cancer tumors grow in a
low oxygen environment. Dr. Garth Powis of the University of Texas
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is leading a team whose goal is to test
drugs in the clinic that will alter the micro-environment around a
tumor in order to prevent the tumor from growing.
"For the first time we have the necessary technology, the
infrastructure and the people to really make an impact on
discovering new molecules against pancreatic cancer," said Dr.
Powis. "We have exciting new drugs and we are starting right away
to test them in patients with pancreatic cancer."
The second project, headed up by TGen's Dr. Haiyong Han and Dr.
Von Hoff, leverages the knowledge that pancreatic cancer tumor
cells have deletions in their DNA. Together with their team, Dr.
Han and Dr. Von Hoff will identify potential candidate drugs that
selectively kill tumor cells that contain the deletions.
The third project, led by Dr. Trent and Dr. Spyro Mousses,
Director of TGen's Cancer Drug Development Laboratory (CDDL), uses
genetic manipulation to make pancreatic cancer tumor cells more
sensitive to drugs by applying a sophisticated technology called
siRNA. The siRNA technology allows researchers to figure out what
in a tumor's DNA can be used as an "Achilles Heel" to make drugs
work more effectively. Identifying these key points of
vulnerability may also lead to new targets, thereby giving
researchers an earlier way to detect the disease.
The grant is supported by four highly-integrated shared services,
including a tissue and blood bank, a computational center which
will facilitates information sharing and data analysis, an
administrative team, and a drug development strategy to accelerate
safety testing and speed the movement of potential drugs from the
laboratory to the clinic.
"The core services provide the infrastructure support needed to
make each project a success. By focusing on drug development and
safety testing, we can get these candidate molecules to the
patients faster," said the Arizona Cancer Center's Dr. Robert
Dorr.
Pancreatic Cancer National Advisory Committee
The announcement of the grant coincides with today's inaugural
meeting of the National Pancreatic Cancer Committee, the first of
the TGen Foundation's National Advisory Councils chaired by U.S.
Senator John McCain. The National Pancreatic Cancer Committee is
chaired by pancreatic cancer survivor Howard Young of Atlanta, GA,
and is under the scientific leadership of TGen's Dr. Von Hoff, who
spoke at the meeting.
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About TGen
The mission of the Translational Genomics Research Institute
(TGen) is to make and translate genomic discoveries into advances
in human health. Translational genomics research is a relatively
new field employing innovative advances arising from the Human
Genome Project and applying them to the development of diagnostics,
prognostics and therapies for cancer, neurological disorders,
diabetes and other complex diseases. TGen is focused on
personalized medicine and plans to accomplish its goals through
robust and disease-focused research.
Media Contact: Amy Erickson-TGen (602) 343-8522
