The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a groundbreaking new cancer drug that was developed by Eli Lilly and Co. and had its origins in a chemistry laboratory at Princeton University.
The FDA announced Thursday that it approved the drug Alimta for use in combination with the drug cisplatin for the treatment of a deadly form of cancer that often is caused by asbestos exposure.
The Alimta combination is the first treatment approved specifically for malignant pleural mesothelioma. Alimta also has shown promise in treating a wide range of other tumors.
The discovery of the drug arose out of collaboration between Lilly and organic chemistry Professor Emeritus Edward Taylor.
Professor Taylor’s interest in anticancer drugs dates to 1946 when he became fascinated with the structure of chemical compounds that turned out to be important for processing folic acid in living organisms.
"I was simply curious about how these essential natural compounds worked," Professor Taylor said.
His research on the subject accelerated in the 1980s when a long-term collaboration with scientists at Lilly resulted in a chemical compound, conceived and synthesized in Professor Taylor’s lab at Princeton, that became the basis of Alimta.
Lilly licensed rights to the drug from Princeton and conducted more than a decade of additional development and clinical trials.
"It was an extraordinarily successful and harmonious collaboration," Professor Taylor said. "I am very happy that it has resulted in a drug that looks like it will help very many people."
