INNOVATION

$2.6 million grant for cancer, autoimmune research team

With the help of a $2.6 million National Institutes of Health grant, researchers from the Intethyr Corporation and Ohio University are collaborating to develop a drug that could treat pancreatic cancer and autoimmune diseases.

According to primary investigator, Leonard Kohn, M.D., CEO of the Interthyr Corporation, preliminary lab studies have shown that the drug can slow the growth of cancer cells and control pathological inflammation.

Kohn recently retired as the J.O. Watson, D.O., Endowed Diabetes Research Chair at OU-COM and distinguished senior research scientist at Edison Biotechnology Institute (EBI). For this project, he works with researchers from OU-COM, including Kelly McCall, Ph.D.; Frank Schwartz, M.D.; and Ramiro Malgor, M.D., along with scientists from both the Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ College of Engineering and Technology and the College of Arts and Sciences.

“This grant is intended to help us develop the drug to phase I/II clinical trials for pancreatic cancer,” Kohn said. “We’d also like to do a combined trial that addresses autoimmune diseases such as diabetes.