Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has helped launch a phase-III clinical trial to test the efficacy of a combination drug that has shown promise of preventing colon cancer. CPP was founded in 2008 to apply decades’ worth of systematic, basic research led by University of Arizona professor emeritus Eugene Gerner and former UA researcher Frank Meyskens to improve clinical practice.
“Our long-term vision is to change the status quo from treating and managing cancer to intervening before cancer manifests and prevent it altogether,” said Jeffrey Jacob, founding CEO of Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals. “The idea is just like in the approach to heart disease: Instead of waiting for heart attack or stroke to happen, we give patients cholesterol-lowering or blood pressure-lowering medicine to prevent those events from happening in the first place.”
In addition to colorectal cancer, the same treatment approach has shown promise in preventing prostate, skin and possibly other cancers as well. Colorectal cancer affects about 1 million people in the U.S., Jacob said.
Read more: UA Spin-Off to Test Cancer-Preventing Drug Combination
