New chemotherapy drug

Impact: New formulation chemotherapy drug for bowel cancer patients that improves treatment outcomes

While chemotherapy options have grown over the last few decades, 5-Fluorouracil (5FU) and Leucovorin (LV) are cornerstone drugs still used at the core of many treatment regimens for patients diagnosed with advanced colorectal cancer.

However, these treatments can cause numerous adverse events, including vein irritation, catheter blockage and sepsis. These side effects lead to poor patient outcomes via unacceptable levels of treatment interruption and discontinuation.

A new chemotherapy drug developed at UOW, Deflexifol, overcomes these problems. Deflexifol is a reformulation of 5FU and LV designed to reduce side effects and patient discomfort, and simplify administration while maintaining efficacy.

It allows for an effective chemotherapeutic regimen that patients can tolerate over repeated treatment cycles, as well as avoiding the need for further interventions to treat these side effects.

A phase 1 clinical trial of Deflexifol is currently being conducted in cancer patients in the Illawarra and south-west Sydney, providing front line access to local residents to this locally developed new treatment.

Developed by researchers at UOW with expertise in medicinal chemistry and cancer biology who joined forces with a local oncologist, the team also engaged experts in clinical trials, drug regulation and commercialisation to realise the dream of taking a cancer drug formulation developed in the laboratory to one that treats patients.