New chemo booster’ could treat lung and pancreatic cancer

A new drug that blocks cancer’s escape route from chemotherapy could be used to treat deadly lung and pancreatic cancers, according to new research. Scientists have shown in human cancer cells and in mice that the drug – discovered at The Institute of Cancer Research, London – boosts the effectiveness of conventional chemotherapy. The drug, known as CCT245737, is scheduled to begin first-in-human clinical trials in patients with lung and pancreatic cancers – two cancers with low survival rates that continue to resist currently available treatments. Professor Ian Collins, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at The Institute of Cancer Research, London,