Modern day medicine is amazing. Through a wide range of medicines and therapies we’ve reduced many deadly diseases to easily treatable conditions. But one disease still claims over 9 million lives each year - Cancer.
But even cancer hasn’t completely escaped the grasp of medicine. Right now, the discovery and development of novel, more targeted cancer therapies is building momentum. And through its role as an integrated drug discovery CRO, Domainex has a proven track record of delivering new therapeutic candidates to treat cancer for testing in clinical trials.
What is the role of a CRO in the fight against cancer?
At Domainex, our role is to support researchers, pharmaceutical scientists & biotechnologists at every step of their drug discovery process. Our integrated services combined with the diverse specialities of our scientists allow us to accelerate oncology research at all pre-clinical stages and beyond. From hit identification through to lead optimisation and candidate drug selection, from novel epigenetic targets to well established target classes, our tailor-made services help to solve challenges and advance projects to ultimately make a difference to patients.
Example Domainex Oncology Success Stories
We’ve been involved in a wide range of drug discovery projects in the field of oncology, from treatments for leukaemia to solid tumours. We are very proud that Queen’s University Belfast recently entered into a collaboration and licencing agreement with Ipsen to progress a FLIP (a key oncology target) inhibitor project which Domainex supported from its inception (click here for the full press release).
30% of cancers
Approximately 30% of cancers are associated with mutations that activate a protein called RAS. The Rabbitts lab group at the University of Oxford predicted that inhibiting the protein-protein interaction between RAS and its effector proteins could be a very beneficial cancer treatment and turned to Domainex for support in developing chemical starting points into lead molecules. Domainex medicinal chemists increased the binding efficiency and improved the potency of the molecules, resulting in a compound which the Rabbitts’ group showed to effectively inhibit RAS binding and tumour viability.
Solid Tumours
There are a number of proteins that control which genes are turned on and off. Sometimes, these proteins can be linked to developing cancer. The lysine methyltransferase enzyme G9a is one such protein, making it a promising oncology target. Starting from a LeadBuilder virtual screen, Domainex scientists identified novel G9a inhibitors and are now working in collaboration with Jason Lee, Head of Epigenetics and Disease Laboratory, at QIMR Berghofer to evaluate these compounds as potential treatments for a range of solid tumours.
Creating a future without cancer
This is just the start. With cutting-edge oncology research ever increasing, we hope to support the development of many more novel cancer therapies to put an end to this disease. If you would like to partner with Domainex to support your own drug research programme we would be delighted to hear from you. You can also find out more about our oncology services and expertise by visiting our website.