Attitude toward safety in cancer drug development needs to change, says ApconiX co-founder

A co-founder of the company ApconiX, based in Alderley Park, has revealed his view that attitude towards safety in pre-clinical cancer drug development needs to change.

Dr Richard Knight will present his viewpoint in full during the forthcoming conference Accelerating Cancer Drug Development – from target to patients on 27 February.

“There is still huge unmet need in effective cancer treatment and it can be tempting for companies researching new drugs to focus mainly on efficacy data with safety issues relegated to secondary importance,” he explained. “However, an improved safety profile is not only an important way to reduce the high rate of drug failure, it can also expedite clinical trials and, above all, it’s the best thing to do for patients.

“With most cancer drugs, patients have to put up with a wide range of adverse effects in return for promised benefits. But that shouldn’t mean patients having to tolerate side effects that could potentially be designed out in the research stage when companies are choosing between candidate chemicals.

“Eliminating pre-clinical safety signals makes everything else easier, from patient recruitment to speed and overall cost. It’s a positive attribute and companies should be taking every opportunity to advance the compound with the best overall profile.

“There is a widespread misunderstanding about what pre-clinical safety is there to do. Many see it largely as a box-ticking exercise but it can be of real value in moving new agents rapidly through clinical trials.”

ApconiX was founded in 2015 by Professor Ruth Roberts, Dr Richard Knight and Dr Michael Morton. Currently more than 50% of its non-clinical safety work is involved with oncology drug development.