Chemical Diversity Initiates International Prostate Cancer Discovery Partnership

Chemical Diversity Research Institute is undertaking a partnership with the Blokhin Russian Oncology Center (RONC) of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the US Department of Energy (DOE), and the US National Cancer Institute (NCI) to develop novel small molecule therapies for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer (PRC).

The partnership will operate under the auspices of The Global Initiatives for Proliferation Prevention Program.

PRC is the most frequently occurring cancer among males in developed countries and accounts for nine percent of cancer deaths in men, second only to lung cancers. PRC is frequently asymptomatic in the early stages, and later stage diagnosis greatly reduces the efficacy of available therapeutic methods.

This project sets a vivid example of international cooperation between leading Russian and U.S. research centers in medical science research aimed at life threatening diseases. CDRI and its collaborators will deploy post-genome technologies including rational drug design and medicinal chemistry, chemical genomics and systems biology to support efficient preclinical discovery and development programs. The American partners from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL, DOE) will provide a knowledge base system for chemical and biological information, using Modular Chemical Descriptor Language technology. Experts from other Russian leading academic research institutions and the NCI will be engaged in the project.

"ChemDiv and CDRI established a long track record of success in lead discovery, with specific expertise in oncology pathway chemistry and biology," said Dmitry Kravchenko, General Director of CDRI. "This opportunity allows us to expand our collaboration with the leading experts in oncology and rational drug design in an especially meaningful context -- targeting a major unmet need for new approached to the prevention and treatment for prostate cancer in United States, Russia, and world wide."

The initial two-year partnership has received financial commitments in excess of US$1,000,000. CDRI and DOE will have joint rights to commercialize products in most of the world, whereas CDRI will have exclusive commercial rights for markets in Russia and certain other countries.