Accelerated version 1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Accelerated development of novel and personalised treatments using new and repurposed therapeutic agents and individualised treatment selection and monitoring
IRAS ID
150708
Contact name
Hisham Mehanna
Contact email
Research summary
The main purpose of the project is to enhance patient benefit by 1) rapidly increasing the available treatment options for cancers of the head and neck and thyroid, using a coordinated platform to test new agents and to repurpose existing pre-licensed therapeutic agents and 2) developing personalised treatment selections.
A cost effective method of introducing new cancer treatments for a given condition is drug repurposing where an existing therapeutic agent that is already licensed for use in humans for one condition is redeveloped for treating another. This is the approach that will be taken by the Accelerated Platform. Repurposing can immediately reduce the requirements for testing, as drugs will have already been through a series of rigorous assessments to identify toxicity, tolerance and side effects, and in doing so bring down overall development costs. If off patent (and therefore generically available) agents are repurposed, costs can be reduced even further whilst generating candidate agents much quicker than using traditional drug development processes.
In this first stage of the platform most of the work will be carried out in the lab to identify the drugs that could potentially be used in the later stages for treatment in head and neck cancer patients.
This application is seeking ethical approval to use blood samples, fresh biological samples for exaple biopsy tissue, saliva and urine. The cells from the the tissue will be used to grow cell lines that can be used in different experiments in the lab and within animal models.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/YH/1101
Date of REC Opinion
1 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion