Spin-out receives funding for anti-cancer drug development
A University of Wolverhampton spin-out is to benefit from £200,000 of investment to develop an anti-cancer drug.
Disulfican is to receive the funding from the University and the Caparo Angad Paul Fund, which invests in new technologies born out of University research.
The company has been formed to build on research carried out by Prof Weiguang Wang, who is professor of experimental cancer therapeutics at the University.
Led by Prof Wang, the Cancer Research Group is developing a treatment based on Disulfiram, an existing drug used to treat alcoholism which is showing promising results in pre-clinical testing as a new anti-cancer therapy.
The company aims to assemble an international research collaboration focused upon the development of the drug formulation to regulatory standards and testing its anti-cancer safety and efficacy.
Prof Wang said: “We are very excited about the prospects for PLGA-Encapsulated Disulfiram. We are developing the treatment for use against two orphan cancers: mesothelioma and glioblastoma. People diagnosed with these diseases have very few treatment options and the hope is that our work will transform their prospects.”
If pre-clinical testing of PLGA-Encapsulated Disulfiram continues to prove successful, then it is hoped that phase I clinical trials may commence in 2020.
