Deal speeds cancer therapies to market

The University of Louisville has signed an agreement with a company whose sole purpose will be to speed new cancer treatments to the marketplace.

The Institute for Advanced Cancer Therapeutics will serve as a pipeline for new cancer drugs, technologies and other therapies developed through UofL research, said Jim Zanewicz, UofL's technology transfer director.

The university will own 30 percent of the new company, which will be housed in the Louisville area.

Some 120 university researchers are doing work that could lead to improved cancer prevention or treatment. The agreement will allow them to submit their findings to the company, which will evaluate their discoveries for commercial value and license them as appropriate.

"This is an important step for the university," Zanewicz said. "We'll have a highly efficient system for moving our cancer research from the lab to the real world."

Researchers at UofL's James Graham Brown Cancer Center are working on more than a dozen promising cancer drugs, said Donald Miller, M.D., Ph.D., who directs the center.

"Now, we'll have the business and regulatory expertise to ensure that our discoveries can be tested first in our own community," Miller said.