Dundee research leads to deal for new cancer treatment

A groundbreaking research project led by Dr Barbara Spruce in the School of Medicine has resulted in the University entering into an agreement to develop a new treatment for cancer, rimcazole, alongside Modern Biosciences plc, the drug development company.

The development of rimcazole for the treatment of cancer was made possible through the research of Dr Barbara Spruce and her team, who focussed on the so-called `sigma-1 receptor', which has been the subject of considerable pharmaceutical research in the field of psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Dr Spruce and her team were the first to show that agents that bind to the sigma-1 receptor (such as rimcazole) cause tumour cells, but not normal cells, to undergo apoptosis. In recognition of her work, Dr Spruce received the inaugural Gannochy Trust Innovation Award of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2003.

"One of the major problems with cancerous cells is that their ability to commit the normal process of `cell suicide' or "apoptosis", is reduced," said Dr Spruce, senior lecturer in the Department of Surgery and Molecular Oncology.

"Apoptosis is a natural self-defence mechanism designed to rid the body of rogue or damaged cells. If apoptosis fails, flawed cells survive when they shouldn't and this includes cancerous cells. Rimcazole appears to restore apoptosis to cancerous cells, causing them to self-destruct but without doing so in normal cells. Our results lead us to believe that rimcazole will produce good anti-tumour effects while, crucially, sparing healthy cells. I would like to acknowledge the hard work and commitment of my team and the help of my many collaborators at the University of Dundee, including Dr Neil Perkins and Dr Alan Prescott; and also collaborators outside Dundee, in particular Dr Suzanne Eccles at the Institute for Cancer Research, Sutton, Surrey."

The University, with the help of funding from the Wellcome Trust, the North-East Scotland Technology Fund (NESTech) and Scottish Enterprise, has progressed rimcazole to the point of clinical development, a unique achievement within a Scottish university.

Dr James Houston, Director of Research and Innovation Services at the University of Dundee, said, "We are delighted to see rimcazole progressing towards clinical trials in cancer. The deal with Modern Biosciences represents the culmination of years of hard and innovating work from Dr Spruce's research group and the University, which has developed the project to a point where it is ready for clinical trials. The decision to develop rimcazole to this stage is an unusual and bold move by an academic organisation. We are extremely grateful to The Wellcome Trust, NESTech and Scottish Enterprise for supporting Dr Spruce's work and we are very pleased to be collaborating with Modern Biosciences and its team of drug development experts."

Under the terms of the new agreement, the University will grant an exclusive worldwide licence to Modern Biosciences for the development of rimcazole in cancer and Modern Biosciences will fund and manage the development programme. Revenues generated through commercialisation of the drug will be shared by Modern Biosciences and the University. Modern Biosciences expects rimcazole to be in clinical trials in patients within a year.

Rimcazole represents a highly attractive drug development candidate as it has already been the subject of a clinical trial programme in a different therapeutic area, schizophrenia. The re-profiling of rimcazole for cancer is lower risk than a normal development programme as there is already a considerable amount of pre-clinical and clinical safety data available. These data will allow Modern Biosciences to move into Phase I trials rapidly.

Rimcazole has several features that make it particularly promising for the treatment of cancer: