The Chemopreventive Agent Development Research Group promotes and supports research on cancer preventive agent development, from preclinical studies to phase I clinical trials. The group’s projects aim to identify and develop prevention agents with the potential to block, reverse, or delay the early stages of cancer. In addition, the group supports research on clinically translatable biomarkers that can be used to monitor tumor initiation and progression or assess efficacy of preventive interventions.
The group supports and conducts preclinical studies to evaluate the preventive potential of new drugs, vaccines, and combinations in model systems using emergent knowledge of molecular and immunological mechanisms of tumor initiation and development. The group also provides support for early phase trials through Current Good Manufacturing Practice (CGMP), advanced preclinical studies, investigational new drug (IND)-enabling good laboratory practice (GLP) toxicology studies and IND submission. Research includes all classes of agents (e.g., pharmaceuticals, biologicals, and micronutrients) and includes synthesis and extraction, formulation, and mechanistic studies (e.g., assays using high-throughput gene analysis technology, cell and organoid cultures from high-risk tissues, carcinogenesis-related biochemical and immunological analyses, and technologies focusing on molecular and immune targets and their modulation) leading to the identification and optimization of promising chemopreventive and immunopreventive agents. This group provides scientific, technical, and administrative oversight for preclinical preventive agents intended for early phase I or phase II clinical research, which utilizes molecular, biochemical, immunological, or physiological endpoints in healthy volunteers and high-risk cohorts.
PREVENT Cancer Preclinical Drug Development Program
The PREVENT program aims to bridge the gap between early discovery and clinical testing of novel agents through a peer-reviewed agent development pipeline. PREVENT provides a structure for introducing new agents, drugs, and vaccines that work to inhibit, delay, or reverse the tumorigenic process. The program was designed to optimize translational opportunities in the clinic and to provide a mechanism to identify and study efficacy and pharmacodynamics of biomarkers that will help in phase II trials to evaluate drug effects.