New Delhi, Dec 10, 2006
Ram Malhotra
NRI Ananda Chakrabarty, Distinguished University Professor, Ph.D.,
University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, made a
research and hope that multi-targeted drug could help several
diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and cancer.
He attended the the function that organized jointly by the PHD
Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Indo-American Chamber of
Commerce and a pharma industry lobby, told that we have just applied
to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and are studying
how to develop a multi-targeted drug.
He said, "I am putting my trust on bugs to offer a complete
alternative to chemotherapy in case of cancer. I would like to
set up an institute in India in partnership to undertake research
and develop next generation of products that will target cancers,
viruses and parasites with one drug."
He founded new company, CDG Therapeutics, which will holds exclusive
rights to the patent held by the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Then it will go for tests on cats and dogs before granting permission
for human clinical trials.
By the test, it is proved that this drug works effectively on
breast cancer, skin cancer in case of mice and shrinkage of tumour
by 65-80%. He said, it may take 3 years and needs 10 million dollars
investment to reach the first phase of human clinical trial to
test it for toxicity. If my drug passes the first stage of toxicity
trial, investment will not be problem for further development
The ability of certain infecting pathogenic bacteria to allow
tumor regression in human patients has been known for more than
hundred years, but the reason for regression was thought to be
due to the production of cytokines and chemokines by an activated
immune system.
We have shown that bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa produce
a protein called azurin that is secreted when the bacteria are
exposed to cancer cells. Azurin enters preferentially to cancer
cells than normal cells. Unlike anticancer drugs that target a
specific step in the cancer progression pathway, azurin, and a
modified form of azurin called Laz produced by Neisserial species,
target multiple steps in the cancer progression pathways, thereby
interfering in cancer growth both in vitro and in vivo. Azurin
and Laz are also highly effective in forming complexes with various
surface proteins of the malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum
and the AIDS virus HIV-1, thereby significantly inhibiting their
growth. Thus a single protein such as azurin or Laz might have
potential therapeutic application against such unrelated diseases
as cancer, malaria or AIDS, including coinfection of AIDS patients
by the malarial parasite. The structural similarity of the proteins
such as azurin with the immunoglobulin folds may explain the broad
range of activity of the bacterially derived azurin or Laz. (University
of Illinois)
