A new drug is being heralded as a “chemotherapy booster” because it has been shown to close off the biological escape route that tumors use to evade drugs used to treat deadly lung and pancreatic cancers.

Scientists with the Institute of Cancer Research, London, have found that the drug, known as CCT245737, increased the effectiveness of conventional chemo against human cancer cells and in mice.

The researchers and now moving forward with the first human clinical trials in patients with lung and pancreatic cancers, which are difficult to treat and usually result in death shortly after diagnosis.

The new study, published in the journal Oncotarget, suggests a new class of oral drugs called CHK1 inhibitors — including CCT245737 — could soon become part of standard cancer treatments.

"We're excited that our new CHK1 inhibitor, which was discovered at the ICR in collaboration with Cancer Research UK and Sareum, is progressing towards first-in-human clinical trials,” said Ian Collins, with the Institute of Cancer Research.

"By using CHK1 inhibitors with chemotherapy, we block one of cancer's escape routes and prevent tumors from evading the effects of treatment. We hope that clinical trials of our new drug will show it to be an effective chemotherapy booster in lung and pancreatic cancers, which readily become resistant to current treatments."

Most chemotherapies damage the DNA of rapidly dividing cancer cells. But tumors activate a molecule called CHK1 that delays cell division and gives cancer cells time to repair their damaged DNA.

The new research showed that blocking that mechanism, with the new drug, stopped cancer cells from repairing DNA damage and prevent them from becoming resistant to the cell-killing effects of chemotherapy.