A chemistry platform for delivering novel small molecule therapies for pancreatic cancer

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a devastating disease that kills most patients within 6 months of diagnosis. Unlike most other cancers, the prognosis for patients has remained almost unchanged over the last 30 years, including immunotherapy. This application aims to develop an orally available small molecule antagonist of the adrenomedullin (AM) receptor AM2 for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas. Accumulating evidence has shown that AM has important actions in the growth and development of PC. Richards, Harrity & Prof Tim Skerry (Dept. Oncology/Metabolism) have identified a potent compound series with impressive efficacy in orthotopic mouse models of PC (inhibiting tumour growth by c.80%). That research is directed towards the development of a first-line intravenous treatment, but our current compound series is not available for oral administration. More recently however, a small heterocyclic fragment SHF-856 was found to show promising levels of inhibition at AM2. This compound is synthetically very tractable, drug-like and amenable to modular variation. The requested funding is to develop this lead into an orally available compound series for the treatment of PC.