Developmental Therapeutics Research Program

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DEVELOPMENTAL THERAPEUTICS PROGRAM: PROJECT SUMMARY The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Massey Cancer Center (MCC) Developmental Therapeutics (DT) Program’s overarching goals are to leverage MCC basic and translational science to discover, develop, and evaluate novel MCC-conceived small molecules and biologics for application in improved strategies for cancer treatments and to drive MCC’s efforts in leading and participating in national and local clinical trial efforts. Guided by the 2021-2025 MCC Strategic Plan, 51 members of the DT Program, representing 15 departments and four VCU Schools/Colleges, lead efforts in drug discovery and development, designing rational drug combination regimens to overcome therapeutic resistance, and evaluating the very latest and most promising therapeutic approaches through clinical trials. DT members currently hold $7.1M in annual, direct, peer-reviewed funding ($3.5M from National Cancer Institute (NCI); $1.3M from other National Institutes of Health; $2.2M from other agencies) and another $1.1M from industry and foundation agencies. Notably, NCI funding has increased by 75% compared to the last Cancer Center Support Grant renewal in 2016. In the current project period, members have published their scientific results in 410 cancer-focused research articles reporting their discoveries and observations. Demonstrating the program’s highly collaborative nature, 123 (30%) publications were intra- programmatic and 154 (38%) were inter-programmatic with scientists in MCC’s Cancer Biology and Cancer Prevention and Control Programs. In total, 258 (63%) of these publications were in collaboration with other institutions including other NCI-designated cancer centers, and 64 (16%) were in high-impact (IF>10) biomedical science journals. Most importantly, members of the DT Program work with the MCC Clinical Trials Office and the Center’s 14 Disease Working Groups in conjunction with the Protocol Review and Monitoring System to initiate, execute, and monitor clinical trials. In 2021, there were 153 interventional treatment trials for adult and pediatric patients actively accruing (15 investigator-initiated, 91 National Clinical Trials Network, 11 Experimental Therapeutics Clinical Trials Network (ETCTN), and 36 industry-initiated). Since 2016, MCC clinical investigators have enrolled 1,000 patients to treatment trials. Importantly, as one of 14 Minority/Underserved NCI Community Oncology Research Program designated institutions, the DT Program largely contributes to MCC’s high enrollment of minorities (34%) onto treatment trials. The MCC was also invited to join the ETCTN through the Princess Margaret Cancer Center’s Lead Academic Organization in 2016, as a result of its demonstrated capabilities to develop and perform early phase trials. Another important initiative within the DT Program this project period has been the 2018 launch of a Molecules to Medicine (M2M) initiative. With significant MCC leadership facilitation and investment there are more than a dozen efforts to translate novel agents discovered and/or developed by MCC members across the translational continuum – from target identification/validation all the way through the preparatory stages for early phase trials.