The Prague Post Online: News: New drug kills cancer cells

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July 4th, 2008

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New drug kills cancer cells

Science institute tests compound that could revolutionize treatment

May 2nd, 2007 issue

A drug that might have led to a cancer cure was created 40 years ago in Prague. But before scientists learned of its cancer-killing potential, the sponsoring research institute abruptly discontinued the studies.

Only recently was it found to kill cancer cells in laboratory tests. Not just that, the drug, which has yet to be named, stops cancer from spreading to other cells. These startling results have sparked excitement over what could be the most promising cancer drug yet.

JAN PŘEROVSKÝ/THE PRAGUE POST

The drug’s properties were discovered by accident several years ago. A student from the University of Southern California who had been conducting an experiment with the drug and cancer cells at the Los Angeles campus didn’t properly clean up before he left for his three-week vacation. When he came back, he noticed the cancer cells he had been working with had vanished. USC contacted the drug’s Czech makers.

Shortly after, Czech chemist Antonín Holý, who had original engineered the drug at the Czech Academy of Sciences’ Institute for Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry, began working with Belgian biologist Erik De Clercq and the U.S. pharmaceutical company Gilead to further develop the drug into what it is today.

“This is quite promising,” says Zdeněk Havlas, the director of the institute. In fact, he adds, this drug could revolutionize the treatment of cancer.

Preclinical trials conducted on animals have shown amazing results. In one, a large tumor growing in a dog that had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma was eradicated within a week after one injection of the drug, which, Havlas says, “is something completely unbelievable.”

The findings were announced at a conference in Los Angeles in mid-April.

At this point, the drug doesn’t seem toxic, unlike chemotherapy. “If you look at people after chemotherapy, they are half-killed,” says Havlas, who is also a chemist.

Clinical trials on people started in April in the United States. There are still many uncertainties about the new drug, Havlas says. For one, researchers don’t know what kind of side effects might show up. But, if things go as planned, a potential cure for cancer could be on the market within the next four to five years.

“I believe that it may be one of the best,” Havlas says. “It looks completely fantastic.”

The holy trinity
This would not be the first time the institute and Holý have broken new ground. In 2001, the American Food and Drug Administration approved Viread, an anti-HIV drug that Holý and De Clercq developed. The drug can stop HIV from infecting the body if taken shortly after exposure. And, for those who already have HIV, it can stop the infection’s spread in the body and may keep them from succumbing to HIV/AIDS. It can also prevent mothers who have the virus from passing it to their children during birth.

The treatment, which consists of taking one pill a day, costs about $500 (10,300 Kč) to $600 in the United States, Havlas estimates.

Gilead, Holý and De Clercq — whom Havlas jokingly refers to as the holy trinity — have agreed to supply the drug to 68 countries, mostly in Africa, for the cost of materials only.

Approximately 40 million people in the world have HIV/AIDS, roughly three-quarters of whom are in sub-Saharan Africa. Nearly 1 million suffer from the disease in the United States, and more than half a million are infected in Europe. Viread, the HIV-fighting drug, is used by about 50 percent of those who take HIV/AIDS drugs in the world, according to Havlas.

The so-called holy trinity has also worked on other revolutionary drugs against viruses, including an anti-hepatitis B drug, Havlas says.

Big leagues
With all this success, money is flowing into the institute. The Czech government gives it about 180 million Kč a year, which doesn’t even cover a quarter of its operating costs, Havlas says. But the profit from pharmaceutical drugs makes up the difference. In fact, so much money is coming in that the institute’s 2-hectare (5-acre) campus is being renovated at a cost of 1 billion to 1.5 billion Kč. The reconstruction is slated to start this month. When it’s complete, in about five years, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a former student of Havlas’, has promised to be here for the ribbon-cutting, Havlas says.

The institute was converted from an agricultural institute and founded in 1953 together with the Czech Academy of Sciences. Today, the campus has about 180 students and 150 scientists. The average age is about 40, Havlas says. A quarter of the scientists also teach, mostly at Charles University and the Institute of Chemical Technology.

Havlas says his goal is for the institute to “reach international excellence” and recognition. He believes it is well on its way. One paper published there has been cited by other scientific papers and journals 572 times. Holý, who developed the anti-HIV and cancer-fighting drugs, has had at least 43 papers cited at least 43 different times — a measure, Havlas notes, that puts him in league with Nobel-prize winners.

Havlas says there are so many productive, smart people working at the institute that he is creating a public relations department to keep up with distributing news about the latest discoveries.

“The number of important results is growing so rapidly,” he says.

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