Biotech start-up SuviCa has been awarded about $1.5 million from the National Cancer Institute to develop novel treatments for head and neck cancer (HNC).
The funding will allow the company to continue the development of the drug SVC112. In animal models of head and neck cancer, the drug has enhanced the antitumor effects of radiation. This kind of "radiation enhancer" molecule inhibits a specific process that cancer cells use to recover from radiation damage, according to the company.
SuviCa is a University of Colorado Boulder biotech start-up. The novel drug-screening technology was developed by Tin Tin Su, PhD, the company's co-founder and chief scientific officer and also a professor in the university's department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology.
"We have very talented researchers at each of these institutions that together are tackling the challenges involved with successfully developing novel treatment options for head and neck cancer," Su stated in a press release.
