Prostate cancer drug gets Eurostars backing
A company behind the development of a drug treating prostate cancer is set to receive a €2.5m grant from the Horizon 2020-funded Eurostars scheme.
Anti-cancer company Oncodrone, based in Nijmegen in the Netherlands, will use the money to progress OCD155 through pre-clinical development towards clinical trials, as well as to further understand the mechanism of action.
OCD155 halts tumour progression by blocking epethelial to mesenchymal transition in cancers. The drug has shown to be effective in in vivo laboratory experiments to reduce the ability of tumours to spread, reduce the tumour burden and treat advanced stages of disease. Once proven to be safe to use, the drug can be tested in patients with metastasised carcinoma’s including prostate, breast, lung and pancreatic cancer.
Commenting, Henk Viëtor, chief executive of Oncodrone, says: “I’m delighted about this crucial grant that allows us to further develop our novel approach to treating prostate cancer towards testing in humans.”
The research will be carried out with partners based in the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Eurostars 2 is a public private partnership in the form of a Joint Programme which supports high-tech SMEs.
