Cancer Research UK invests L10 million in drug discovery

Cancer Research UK is investing L10.0 million ($19.6 million in drug discovery projects at four universities across the UK. Project leaders at Imperial College London, the University of Oxford, the University of Strathclyde and The School of Pharmacy in London will each receive L500,000 per year for five years to develop anti-cancer drugs.

The grants aim to encourage research into using small molecules to create new and targeted drugs to treat cancer. The projects will range from developing therapies for leukemia to discovering new agents to beat drug resistance in breast and prostate cancers.

Herbie Newell, Cancer Research UK's executive director of clinical and translational research, said: "we are in the process of significantly expanding our drug discovery programs. We will be investing more in developing new approaches to treatments and getting the most promising drugs into first clinical trials in man faster. Recent advances in our understanding of the biology of cancer have revolutionized the way we discover drugs, using specific targets as starting points."