Two of the world’s most acclaimed cancer researchers, Drs. Tak Mak of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, and Dennis Slamon of the University of California, Los Angeles, shared news of a major breakthrough in the decade-long pursuit to develop a new class of “sharpshooter” cancer drugs. Together they have submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the Food and Drug Administration for a new drug they have developed based on our research of a target enzyme, PLK4, which plays a crucial role in the process of cell division, particularly in cancer cells. This new drug, CFI- 400945, will enter clinical trials phase in the months ahead. In the lab, it has been shown to effectively inhibit the growth of human breast and ovarian cancers as well as colorectal, glioblastoma, lung, melanoma, pancreatic and prostate cancers. Drs. Mak and Slamon are very confident about their submissions to the FDA and Health Canada and anticipate that, following a successful regulatory review, the research team will be able to move quickly to the clinical testing stage.
