{"id":27883,"date":"2022-02-09T14:41:39","date_gmt":"2022-02-09T14:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/?p=24037"},"modified":"2024-11-03T15:13:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-03T15:13:43","slug":"diving-into-our-role-in-50-top-cancer-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/diving-into-our-role-in-50-top-cancer-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Diving into our role in 50 top cancer drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"AA lab at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in the 1960\u2019s<\/p>\n

” data-medium-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DrugsList_hero-300×168.jpg” data-large-file=”https:\/\/news.cancerresearchuk.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/DrugsList_hero.jpg”><\/p>\n

A lab at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in the 1960’s<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cAbiraterone gave me a lifeline. In my case, it\u2019s been hugely successful at treating my cancer.\u201d Alfred Samuels is one of the thousands of people with cancer around the UK every year who receive drugs as part of their cancer treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Drugs can be given for different reasons, not just with the aim of eliminating the tumour. Sometimes they\u2019re used to keep advanced disease like Alfred\u2019s at bay. In other cases, it\u2019s to prevent cancer coming back after surgery, to shrink tumours prior to surgery or radiotherapy, or make radiotherapy more effective.<\/span><\/p>\n

To add to the complexity, there are different types of drug which work in different ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some \u2013 generally called chemotherapies \u2013 target fast-dividing cells like cancer cells. Others, called immunotherapies, can be used to galvanise the body\u2019s own immune system to treat the disease.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet more \u2013 so-called targeted therapies \u2013 are designed to target specific molecules on or inside cancer cells. And hormone therapies \u2013 like the abiraterone used to treat Alfred\u2019s prostate cancer \u2013 work by disrupting a tumour\u2019s reliance on certain hormones.<\/span><\/p>\n

In all, there are hundreds of drugs available to treat the disease. And they all have one thing in common: they\u2019re all the product of a painstaking global research effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

To mark 20 years since Cancer Research UK was formed, from a merger between the Cancer Research Campaign (CRC) and the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF), we\u2019ve delved into the research that led to many of the drugs in use today, and mapped these charities\u2019 contributing role.<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve focused on 3 main steps in a drug\u2019s journey to the clinic: discovery research, drug development and clinical testing. And we\u2019ve identified more than 50 drugs where the hard work of scientists and doctors we\u2019ve funded has helped hasten these drugs\u2019 journey to patients.<\/span><\/p>\n

It all starts with \u2018why?\u2019<\/h2>\n

Whether it\u2019s understanding how \u2018mustard gas\u2019 chemicals used in World Wars kill cells, or working out how growth signals are transmitted to a cell\u2019s nucleus, the first step in a drug\u2019s journey usually starts with the question \u2018why\u2019? Why does a particular gene or molecule encourage cells to grow? Or, conversely, why does a chemical affect growing cells in a particular way?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the case of early chemotherapy, it was pioneering work in the 40s and 50s that helped opened the door to the chemotherapy drugs in use today. CRC-funded chemists and biologists at the Chester Beatty Laboratories in London (now known as the Institute of Cancer Research) discovered exactly how the nitrogen mustard chemotherapy molecules damaged a cell\u2019s DNA. And in doing so, they developed 3 new drugs \u2013 melphalan, busulfan and chlorambucil.<\/span><\/p>\n

Scientists around the world have since built on their insights, developing drugs such as carmustine and lomustine. All of these drugs are still in use today and play a key role in the treatment of a range of cancers, including leukaemias, lymphomas and brain tumours.<\/span><\/p>\n

Thirty years later, a humble PhD student at ICRF\u2019s London Research Institute<\/a> (now part of the Francis Crick Institute) uncovered something fascinating about a relatively unknown protein made by our cells, known as epidermal growth factor receptor, or EGFR for short.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Julian<\/p>\n

Professor Julian Downward as a PhD student.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019d had to wait for the evening for the one of the few computers in the lab to be free before I could begin to look at the data from my experiments. That night the computer came up with a match \u2013 EGFR was almost identical to a protein produced by a virus that causes cancer in chickens. It really was a \u2018Eureka!\u2019 moment \u2013 our own cells contained molecules that accelerated cancer growth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Professor Julian Downward\u2019s observation overturned widely held ideas on the causes of cancer, which many had thought was caused by infection. It triggered a wave of research around the world that ultimately led to the development of drugs that target the EGFR protein \u2013 drugs that US data suggests<\/a> are playing a role in reducing deaths from lung cancer<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt may have taken years for our findings to be translated into drugs to treat people with cancer, but even then we knew it was significant \u2013 my supervisor even came back into the office late that night to see what I was seeing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many more drugs built from the fundamental insights of laboratory research funded by Cancer Research UK and its predecessors.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, we supported work on yeast and sea urchins<\/a> that\u2019s led to new drugs for breast cancer, careful genetic studies<\/a> that have opened the door to effective melanoma drugs, and painstaking unravelling of cells\u2019 DNA repair mechanisms<\/a> that\u2019s led to drugs for ovarian, prostate, breast and pancreatic cancers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Turning ideas into drugs<\/h2>\n

The next stage in getting drugs from the lab to the clinic is harnessing scientific insights to develop molecules that can be given to people as drugs \u2013 a process collectively called drug discovery. And we\u2019ve played an important role here too.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take abiraterone, for example \u2013 the hormone-disrupting drug currently holding Alfred\u2019s cancer at bay. Abiraterone emerged from a quest to shut down a key step in testosterone production, and so slow or even halt cancer growth in prostate cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the early 1990s, researchers at our Centre for Cancer Therapeutics at the Institute of Cancer Research in Surrey were studying existing anti-fungal drug that could do this. But there was a problem: the body broke it down too quickly to be effective. Some clever chemistry led to a molecule they simply called \u20183\u2019, which was able completely shut off testosterone production in mice. Taken to our Strathclyde formulation unit in Scotland, the prototype was developed into a tablet, opening the door to clinical trials. The rest is history.<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

There are many more drugs whose existence has been underpinned by researchers we\u2019ve supported. In the 1930s, our researchers created a synthetic form of oestrogen<\/a> called stilboestrol, which became a mainstay of prostate cancer therapy for decades, and opened the door to modern hormone-blocking drugs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Carboplatin \u2013 a widely used chemotherapy drug \u2013 arose from our researchers\u2019 work to improve platinum-based chemotherapy in the 1970s. More recently, our researchers in Newcastle and Cambridge have helped develop targeted drugs called PARP inhibitors<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Into the clinic<\/h2>\n

Once a drug has been discovered it needs to be tested in clinical trials, which are critical to ensure that the drugs are safe, effective and better than what\u2019s currently available.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a difficult path for a drug to walk, and it\u2019s estimated that just 1 in 10 drugs entering first-in-human clinical trials end up making it all the way to approval.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over 120 years Cancer Research UK and its predecessors have run thousands of clinical trials, from early, first-in-human studies that look at a drug\u2019s safety and toxicity through to larger \u2018phase 3\u2019 studies that compare them to other treatments.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the beginning of the clinical trial pathway sits our Centre for Drug Development<\/a>, the world\u2019s only charity-funded drug development facility. A similar size to a medium sized pharmaceutical company, it\u2019s responsible for running the first-in-human clinical trials, including for 6 drugs widely available today \u2013 with 21 more in the pipeline.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of these drugs, temozolomide, is now used worldwide as the frontline drug for people with glioblastoma, a type of brain tumour.<\/span><\/p>\n

And beyond the vital work in bringing new treatments to patients for the first time, our research has led to the refinement of their use in later phase clinical trials.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Glasgow clinical trials unit, working as part of an international consortium, led the way in showing docetaxel could benefit women with ovarian cancer. Other trials we\u2019ve funded have shown the best way to use drugs like fluorouracil for liver cancer, mitoxantrone for acute leukaemia and capecitabine in stomach cancer.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Alfred Samuels took part in the STAMPEDE trial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Alfred received abiraterone thanks to a clinical trial called STAMPEDE, which has been testing new combinations of drugs to see which may improve prostate cancer survival.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the last 17 or so years since the study began, STAMPEDE has already changed clinical practice 29 times. In 2015<\/a> it showed giving men docetaxel in addition to standard treatment was beneficial \u2013 this led to change in NHS guidelines and transformed clinical guidelines across the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

A few years later<\/a> it showed that adding abiraterone and the steroid prednisolone to standard hormone therapy extended survival by a similar amount.<\/span><\/p>\n

Around 10 years after his initial diagnosis, Alfred says STAMPEDE was an opportunity for him<\/a> to not let statistics rule his life. \u201cSo far, the treatment has been working and my cancer is being managed well. While I\u2019ll be on the treatment for the foreseeable future, it\u2019s given me the chance to live life. I see the world differently now and I take stock of what I\u2019m seeing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The (even) bigger picture<\/h2>\n

This long and winding road a new drug travels to reach people with cancer spans so many research areas, making it unsurprising that there\u2019s rarely a single research group or organisation responsible for an individual drug. Drugs come about through collaboration, competition and a collective effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through careful work \u2013 combing historic research papers, searching our archives and interviewing researchers \u2013 we\u2019ve built a picture of how funding from Cancer Research UK and our predecessors has contributed to more than 50 cancer drugs in use today.<\/span><\/p>\n

These drugs have had an extraordinary impact, offering options to millions. Thanks to data collected by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service<\/a>, we\u2019ve been able to calculate that the drugs that CRUK research has contributed towards, are used to treat 3 in 4 people with cancer who receive cancer drugs in England every year.<\/span><\/p>\n

These drugs\u2019 impact extends well beyond the UK. More than 20 appear on the World Health Organisation\u2019s drugs list of \u2018Essential Medicines\u2019, meeting the most pressing needs of a country\u2019s health system.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a legacy we\u2019re extremely proud of. But it means even more to people like Alfred. \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019d be here today if it wasn\u2019t for the trial, abiraterone and Cancer Research UK scientists who helped develop the drug,\u201d says Alfred.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI like Cancer Research UK\u2019s approach and I see the value of what they\u2019re doing. It\u2019s real. It\u2019s keeping people affected with cancer at the heart of what they do, and making a real difference for people like me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Catherine Pickworth is a research information manager at Cancer Research UK<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

About the project:<\/strong> We<\/span> investigated<\/span> the contribution of<\/span> CRUK<\/span>\/CRC\/ICRF funding to<\/span> more than 80<\/span> individual<\/span> cancer<\/span> drugs<\/span> in 3 separate research areas<\/span> (underpinning research, discovery and development and clinical trials)<\/span> through a comprehensive literature review and interviews with the research community.<\/span> We identified more 56 drugs<\/span> where contributing research was CRC\/ICRF\/CRC funded<\/span>.<\/span><\/span> We then used<\/span> NHS Digital\u2019s SACT database, which captures prescribing information of SACT<\/span> drugs, to<\/span> calculate the proportion of patients who are prescribed<\/span> one of these 56 drugs,<\/span> and therefore the proportion who have received at least one drug built on CRUK\u2019s research.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

More on this topic<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lab at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in the 1960's \u201cAbiraterone gave me a lifeline. In my case, it\u2019s been hugely successful at treating my cancer.\u201d Alfred Samuels is one of the thousands of people with cancer around the UK every year who receive drugs as part of their cancer treatment. Drugs can be [...]","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5137],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43418,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27883\/revisions\/43418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ogkologos.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}