Developmental Therapeutics Program
Scientific Goal
The goals of the Developmental Therapeutics (DT) Program are to reduce cancer burden through integration of the processes of discovery, development, and delivery of new anticancer agents.
Program Goals
Drug Discovery
Most drug discovery now occurs within the pharmaceutical industry. However, UCCC Developmental Therapeutics Program members working in signal transduction, natural products and drug targeting are discovering novel anticancer agents. As a result, we have had two successful RAID applications and will enter two drugs into phase I clinical trials in 2008.
Preclinical Development
DT Program members are also involved in important preclinical valildation of agents discovered here or by the pharmaceutical industry. Our members are working in stem cell biology, pharmacology, MRS/MRI, novel combinations and veterinary oncology to develop hypotheses that can be tested, rather than developed, in early clinical trials.
Early Clinical Development
Novel anticancer therapy testing begins in phase I clinical trials. Testing efficacy of new agents is becoming increasingly complex. New targets may vary considerably among tumor subsets, and agents may target several pathways. DT Program members interact extensively with the NCI Cancer Therapy and Evaluation Program (CTEP) and the biopharmaceutical industry in our work. Our Phase I program—one of just 16 in the nation—is in its fifth year of funding from a U01 grant that allows us to partner with the NCI in the early development of novel agents.
Delivery
Clinical members of the DT Program provide high-quality cancer care by incorporating phase II and phase III trials into disease-specific settings. Delivery also includes Pediatric and Radiation Oncology (non-TRM, HRM), as well as tumor types that are not included in the TRM and HRM Programs (GI, cutaneous oncology, BMT, leukemia/lymphoma, sarcoma, AIDS-related malignancies, and hematology).
Program Activities
- During the 2006-2007 reporting period, Developmental Therapeutics Program members received over $11 million in research funding, almost a 30 percent increase in total funding. What's more, over 36 percent of our funding is NCI supported—double that of the previous reporting period.
- During this time, new faculty brought in new NCI grants and Dr. Madeleine Kane's K12 training grant was renewed. Program members submitted several new K23 and R231 grants in late 2007.
- In 2007, the DT Program initiated a collaboration with the Molecular Oncology Program. Dr. Gail Eckhardt and Dr. Jessica Tyler held a joint one-day symposium in August that included members of each program and posters.
Program Members
The DT Program has 78 active members of which 50 are Full members and 28 are Associate members.
View membership list.
Publications
The Developmental Therapeutics Program produced a total of 231 cancer-related publications from October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Of these, 73 (32%) were inter-programmatic publications; 30 (13%) were intra-programmatic publications; and 26 (11%) were inter-/intra-programmatic. Thus, there were 129 (56%) collaborative publications.
View publications (pdf)