Georgia State University (US) has signed a license agreement with Cisen
Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., a comprehensive pharmaceutical enterprise in
China, to develop cancer-fighting compounds designed by Georgia State
researcher Dr. Binghe Wang, in collaboration with Professor Muxiang Zhou
of Emory University, a cancer biologist.
As part of the agreement, Cisen Pharmaceutical will continue research
collaboration with Wang and support research activity in his lab.
Georgia State and Cisen are working together to develop compounds to
treat leukemia. The same compounds can be applied to numerous cancers as
well.
Through the partnership, Georgia State and Cisen will conduct
clinical trials and develop a product for the Chinese market. Georgia
State retains the right to partner with companies worldwide to develop
the product for the United States and other markets. The university is
interested in engaging in additional partnerships, according to Dr.
Chester Bisbee, associate vice president and director of the Office of
Technology Licensing and Commercialization.
“Georgia State University is excited about our license agreement with
Cisen Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.,” Bisbee said. “We look forward to our
partnership and potentially developing a cancer-fighting drug for the
market that could save lives and reduce the suffering caused by cancer.”
Through the inhibition of MDM2-MDM4 dimerization, the anti-cancer
drug candidate regulates the levels of p53, a protein that is considered
the “guardian of the genome” and induces cell death when things go awry
as in the case of cancer. In some forms of cancer, the cancer cells
suppress the level of p53, protecting the cancer cells. Wang has
developed a group of compounds that removes cancer’s ability to suppress
this protein.
“Targeting this pathway is a unique approach to fighting cancer
diseases,” said Wang, a Regents Professor of Chemistry and associate
dean as well as a world-renowned medicinal chemist. “Most current
anti-cancer drugs are cytotoxic agents and have severe toxicity
problems. This product employs targeted therapy and has great potential
to become an alternative to current chemotherapeutic drugs. Our
compounds show substantially reduced toxicity compared to current cancer
treatments, such as doxorubicin, and strong anticancer properties.”
The compounds could potentially be worth millions of dollars, with
milestone payments and royalties for Georgia State, Bisbee said.