The Prince Margaret Center announced the FDA filing, called an Investigational New Drug application (IND), at an event in Toronto recognizing the private donors. A press release about the announcement was picked up at this biotech news site.The Principal Investigators present for the announcement were Dr. Tak Mak of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and Dr. Dennis Slamon of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). What they have done is summarized in another excerpt from the blog post:
By working first to understand the various proteins that drive cells to divide, particularly in cancer, they were able to pinpoint an enzyme, that if blocked, could be the key to keeping cancer in check. They then discovered that this enzyme, called PLK4, can be derailed by a new drug they developed. In the lab, it has been shown to inhibit the growth of breast, ovarian, colorectal, lung, pancreatic and prostate cancer, as well as melanoma.
Information about the human PLK4 protein is available here.
Some background: In June 2008, it was announced that a partnership had been formed between Canada’s Cancer Stem Cell Consortium (CSCC) and the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) for international collaboration to advance cancer stem cell research. An excerpt from the CSCC's announcement:It is proposed that one of the first initiatives to be launched by the CSCC will be a collaboration between Canadian and Californian scientists through CIRM's upcoming Disease Team Research Awards Competition, which will support multi-disciplinary teams of scientists in pursuit of therapies for specific diseases.The goal is to fund teams that will develop therapy or diagnostics for a particular disease or serious injury.Successful proposals will likely include a description of a path to an Investigational New Drug filing at the end of the four-to-five year grant.
Note the intent to file an IND by the end of the term of the grant.
The results of the Disease Team Research Awards Competition were announced on October 28, 2009. The award to Drs. Slamon and Mak is Grant number DR1-01477. See: Therapeutic Opportunities to Target Tumor Initiating Cells in Solid Tumors. As was stated in a page about Cancer Stem Cells on the website of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), this award was to one of two multi-disciplinary research teams co-led by Canadian and Californian scientists. The other team is co-led by Dr. John Dick of the University Health Network and Dr. Dennis Carson of the University of California, San Diego. My blog post (October 29, 2009) about the awards is entitled: Disease Team awards announced. The post ends with this Disclosure:I'm a member of the Board of the CSCC, but also a staff member (emeritus) at the University Health Network. So, I was in conflict of interest, and was absent during all of the discussions, by the CSCC Board, about which Canadian applications should be considered for the Disease Team awards.
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