MARCAR is a collaboration between 12 industrial and academic partners funded by the European Union’s Innovative Medicines Initiative. “The development of new drugs is a very costly process, partly because of the large number of drugs which never make it to market due to the discovery of cancerous effects during drug development,” said Roland Wolf, Director of the Biomedical Research Institute at the University of Dundee and Scientific Co-ordinator of the MARCAR project.
“Predictions regarding safety of drug compounds can be imprecise and sometimes incorrect. If we could make better predictions at an early stage of drug development it would save a lot of time and money and make the whole process more efficient.”
MARCAR aims to find markers which are predictive of carcinogenic properties of hits and leads so they can be discarded at an early stage of development.
Wolf said this would benefit to pharmaceutical companies through improved internal selection of potential drugs, fewer delays and adverse effects during late-phase drug development, and improved pre-clinical carcinogenicity safety assessment prior to clinical trials. It is also hoped that translation of early cancer biomarkers into the clinic will also improve safety for patients participating in clinical trials.
The project will focus on a group of drugs known as non-genotoxic carcinogens (NGCs). At present, the carcinogenic properties of such compounds only tend to be identified following prolonged trials.
Tom Shepherd, Chief Executive of CXR Biosciences Ltd, one of the companies taking part in the project, said, “This research project will address a critical and costly bottleneck in the safety assessment of drugs and chemicals. Unraveling the complexities involved necessitates the combined skills and experience of both industry and academia across Europe and if successful, could bring significant benefits.”
Biomarkers will be identified using a variety of techniques including epigenetic profiling, clinical imaging and bioinformatics.
Partners in the MARCAR include Novartis Pharma AG, Medizinische Universitaet Wien, Medical Research Council UK, Eberhard-Karls-Universitaet-Tuebingen, Boehringer Ingelheim and Bayer Schering Pharma AG.
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