Alejandro Domínguez I Algeciras (Cádiz), (EFE).- The American pharmaceutical Nuvectis Pharma has closed all the procedures to create a new medicine, the NXP900 pill, capable of stopping various types of cancer. This is a historic milestone in the investigation of this disease that emanates from the work of the Spanish scientist Asier Unciti Broceta, director of the Institute of Genetics and Cancer laboratory at the University of Edinburgh.
In statements to Efe, this doctor in Medicinal Chemistry born in Algeciras (Cádiz) in 1976, explains that this finding is the result of research that began in 2010: “From the beginning, we focused our research on the SRC protein, a type of protein that is involved in certain types of cancer. Relatively early, we made a drug discovery, for a compound that inhibits this protein,” which led them to patent the finding in 2015.
The investigation led by Unciti was added to those that had been taking place until then in the scientific community. “When we discovered an inhibitor, there were already inhibitors on the market that were being used for leukemia, which inhibited other proteins. The difference is that it had never been possible to create a drug that worked to fight cancer.
Preclinical animal testing
His finding has meant, in fact, a paradigm shift in the conclusions that until then had been adopted worldwide by the investigation of a drug against cancer: “What we have shown is that the other previous medicines did not do the job of inhibiting this protein. That is why the pharmaceutical industry did not make new drugs. That has caused it to take so long for my pill to arrive, because we have gone against the current, trying to show that what was invented did not work ”.
This result has led the Edinburgh research team to carry out preclinical tests in animals in recent years: “It is stopping tumors such as lung, breast or prostate cancer in many mice.”
“Four or five years ago, everyone didn’t even think I was right. We’ve turned around the academic world and now the world’s leading experts on this protein are saying that this drug is the one that can finally cure this type of cancer. There has been a paradigm shift. Very little happens in science. It has been hard and an innovative company like Nuvectis has had to come ”, he explains.
Asier Uniciti refers to the pharmaceutical company that has already completed the manufacturing process of the NXP900 pill, a definitive step for the application of its research and a milestone in modern medical history.
For this, it has been necessary to have an investment of more than 30 million dollars. Now, the company is already finalizing the registration of this pill with the United States Food and Drug Administration, as well as the process for the introduction of the compound in capsules.
Less intrusion into the body
Unciti details as a curiosity that, despite the complexity of demonstrating the efficacy of the treatment and preclinical tests, one of the most cumbersome issues to finish designing the drug has been the definition of a powdered compound that would allow the solution to be slippery enough to insert into capsules.
Once the toxicological studies have also been carried out, it is expected that the first clinical studies in human patients can be carried out next summer.
The University of Edinburgh’s Cancer Research Institute is recognized as one of the best in the world. However, the fact that the entire preclinical package has been done in academia “is very difficult. Normally, this is done by the pharmaceutical industry”, explains the Spanish scientist, who highlights how the company Nuvectis has consulted with him on all the steps for the preparation of the drug.
The new pill also involves less intrusion into the body than that produced by other more aggressive treatments such as chemotherapy. Initially, its function is not to cure cancer, but to stop it, although Unciti explains that “our molecule is so selective that it recognizes the tumor and the immune system and ends up destroying it. It’s like it helps the immune system.”
The Spanish scientist is “very excited” about the prospects for the imminent application of his drug, a new step in research that could be a historic moment in the fight against cancer. EFE