ULM pharmacy professors awarded U.S. patent for new drug | ULM Forum 7-20-12
At one time, a diagnosis of cancer was just short of a death sentence. More recently, scientists have dramatically changed that outcome in many types of cancer with research into naturally-occurring substances. A drug that broke new ground in treating breast and ovarian cancer -- Taxol -- was derived from the Pacific yew tree.
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| Dr. Khalid El Sayed (left) and Dr. Girish Shah |
Researchers at The University of Louisiana at Monroe have been awarded a patent for a new anti-cancer drug that shows promise in controlling the spread of prostate cancer.
Dr. Kalid El Sayed and Dr. Girish Shah developed a new drug based on a sponge found in the Red Sea. Since the drug isn’t toxic to normal cells, even in very high doses, the work shows progress toward making cancer a much more manageable disease.
Shah and El Sayed designed a unique screening platform enabling them to identify one right compound among 50.
This discovery was further proven in their transgenic mouse model.
El Sayed said, "I was fortunate to have a great prostate cancer expert like Dr. Shah, who expressed an interest in testing our marine natural products library ... Most cancer mortality is attributed to its ability to invade and metastasize to distant vital organs. Out of more than 50 compounds, a compound from a shallow water Red Sea sponge was able to exert good activity."
"We chemically synthesized the same compound and several related ones and significantly improved the activity. We published several joint papers on these compounds and were able to improve the activity 40-folds of the original natural product. We hope we will bring in grant funding to investigate these compounds more, enhance their activity and prepare them for future clinical studies."
The research partnership between Shah and El Sayed is the "perfect example" of integrated strengths and expertise available in ULM's College of Pharmacy, El Sayed said.
"The ULM College of Pharmacy has all needed infrastructures and expertise to become the state’s leading drug discovery institute. President Bruno and the administration are highly supportive of this kind of research," El Sayed concluded.
This is not the first patent awarded to ULM's College of Pharmacy.
In 2010, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Shah a patent for his invention of a biomarker for prostate cancer that may eventually become a new screening tool for physicians everywhere.
In 2011, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office awarded El Sayed, Shah and Dr. Paul Sylvester a patent for their discovery of anti-cancer prototype compounds, which are found in the waxy substance on fresh tobacco leaves and which show potential for controlling metastic breast and prostate cancers.
Air Date:
Fri, 07/20/2012