North Dakota State University (NDSU) has spun out US-based oncological therapy developer Oncothira under a licence from NDSU Research Foundation, the university’s tech transfer office.

NDSU will charge Oncothira on certain development milestones and will also collect royalties on any eventual drug sales.

Founded in July 2018, Oncothira is working on a drug that tackles cancer by exploiting an enzyme prevalent in cancerous tumours called cyclooxygenase (Cox-2) to assist the production of the cancer-fighting compound 8-HOA.

Unlike Cox-2 inhibitors currently used in oncology, Oncothira’s approach will avoid slowing production from Cox-2 of prostaglandins, a lack of which can leave the patient exposed to painful side effects.

Oncothira’s drug has already been tested on animal models and will now undergo further development in preparation for human clinical trials.  The spinout commercialises work by Steven Qian, associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the School of Pharmacy.

Charles Peterson, dean of the School of Pharmacy and the College of Health Professions at NDSU, said: “While pharmaceutical researchers at NDSU hold patents on numerous discoveries, Dr Qian’s new approach to cancer treatment is the first discovery in the School of Pharmacy to be part of a licence agreement that can advance the science to potentially benefit patients.”

Nick Poulios, chairman of Oncothira, added: “We at Oncothira are very excited about this opportunity with NDSU.

“We believe this technology puts us at the forefront of cancer research to develop a novel, targeted cancer therapy by taking advantage of the body’s natural defences to inhibit cancer growth and metastasis, as well as enhancing current chemo-agents to revolutionise cancer treatment.”