Stunting growth: Dr. Jason Chesney is developing a drug he believes could stop the spread of cancer - Business First of Louisville:

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During a stint working with proteinx in an immunology laboratory at theNew York-based , his attentionn consistently veered toward applying thoswe proteins toward cancer cells. “Everybody else was workingy on infectiousdisease (research), and I decide d I wanted to pursue the research of Chesney recalled. “My boss looked at me like I was a His persistencepaid off. Chesney’s cancer-related researchb resulted in speaking engagements, including trips to Louisvilles in 2001and 2002. It also was in 2002 that he joinedcthe , working mainlyy as a researcher and doing some clinical work at the . He becamer a full-time university faculty memberin 2003.
Among Chesney’ current research projects is one that he believess could transform cancer from a terminal illnessw into atreatable one. “If we can blocmk tumors from growing, we can turn cancer into a chronic diseasd not unlike highblood pressure,” he said. Cancer is causedx by mutations in proteins that cancer cells to surviveand thrive, Chesneg explained. “We want to blocmk those signals.
” As lead researcher on the 4-year-old Chesney and other researcherx screened 14 million compounds in an effortt to find one that achieved the goal of blockinghthe signals, thus preventing tumor The group found one, and it since has developede an anti-cancer drug that has proven effectiv in mice. Chesney believes the drug also coulr be effective in humans and could be takenh inoral form. “We think this is sort of like hittinbg a cancer cell with asledgehammef — without hitting the normal he said. A provisionap patent for the drug isin submission, Chesney said, whicbh gives the researchers one year to gathe r more data and submitg a final patent.
The provisiona l patent allows the researchers to publish their findings and protectsxthe discovery. Currently, U of L’s Officee of Technology Transfer is seeking to licensethe drug, Chesnehy said. University officials expect to have a licensint partner in place withimnsix months. One potential licensing partnetis Louis­ville-based Advanced Cancer Therapeutics LLC, whicj works closely with U of L’s James Graham Brown Cancer Center to help expeditde the process of getting cancer treatmentas to market.
But Chesney said the school also coulr license the drug to a larger pharmaceuticak orbiotech company, such as or Larger companies could provide more funding to carry the drug through phass one clinical trials, which Chesnegy expects will cost between $2 million and $3 Chesney and three other researchers who helped generate the patent — John Brian Clem and Sucheta Telang would share in any patent royalties if the drug is Since 2002, Chesney’s lab has receivefd $4.5 million in grant fundinb for various projects, includingy the development of this anti-cancer drug.
Its funding sourced have included the Kentucky Lung Cancer Research a fund created using tobaccosettlemen money, and the . Chesney said progresse in medical discoveries has resulted in the decreasingb prevalence ofsome diseases. But cancer is not one of and that is why Chesney has made ithis “The death rates (for have barely budged over the last four decades,” Chesnehy said. “It’s the biggest problemk in Westernmedicine today.
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