A drug developed against cancer shows success in clinical trials

The Kay Prize for the development will be awarded to Prof. Avraham Hochberg from the Hebrew University

Research by a professor from the Hebrew University led to the development of a drug that has so far been successfully tested on 18 bladder cancer patients as part of clinical trials. The drug is based on more than twenty years of research by Prof. Avraham Hochberg from the Silverman Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University. This development recently earned Prof. Hochberg first place in the Kay Award for Innovative Developments.

Prof. Hochberg's research revealed that the H19 gene plays an important role in the process of cancer formation in the body. The gene is expressed in large quantities in the cells of more than 30 types of cancer, including bladder cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer, while in healthy tissues it is expressed at almost zero levels. The assumption is that the gene allows cancer cells to survive in the conditions that characterize their environment and thus enables the development of the tumor and the creation of metastases.

In light of the breakthroughs in cancer research in recent years and the discovery of the role of the H19 gene in this process, Prof. Hochberg believes that an anti-cancer drug based on the differential activation of a toxin exclusively in cancer cells in which the H19 gene is expressed, will have advantages that the existing methods for eradicating cancer do not have.

On the basis of Prof. Hochberg's research, BioCancell was established in 2005 as a subsidiary of the Hebrew University's research development company, which granted BioCancell the license to use the technology and develop a medicine. Today the company is traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

The drugs developed by the company led by Prof. Hochberg lead to the targeted destruction of cancer cells without harming healthy cells. The approach is based on identifying genes that are expressed only in cancerous tumors and using these genes to activate a toxin only within the cancerous cells in a way that will result in their destruction without causing damage to healthy cells.

The success of the clinical trial in a kidney cancer patient at the beginning of May caused the company's stock to jump by 250%. Additional trials of the drug in ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer are in advanced stages.

The Kay Award for Innovative Developments was awarded to Prof. Hochberg on June 9 at the 72nd session of the Board of Trustees of the Hebrew University. The awarding ceremony for innovative developments named after Kay has been held at the Hebrew University every year since 1994. Yitzhak Kay from England, a prominent industrialist in the pharmaceutical industry, founded the practice of awarding awards to encourage university faculty and students to develop innovative methods with commercial potential that will benefit the university and society.