Breaking News Two studies report results on finasteride and prostate cancer. See story.

NCI investigators have shown that nelfinavir (Viracept) and two other protease inhibitors, drugs developed and approved to fight HIV infection, may have a role in treating cancer. The research illustrates the promising strategy of broadening the use of these inhibitors that have already shown efficacy against HIV/AIDS to include cancer treatment.

Results published in the September 1 Clinical Cancer Research showed that three of six drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS also inhibit an important target in cancer, Akt, stopping the growth of cancer cells, not only in vitro, but also when those cells are transplanted into mice.  Read more  

Improving the translation of promising laboratory findings into the clinic is a top NCI priority. One of the most important mechanisms by which NCI helps bring new interventions to patients and clinicians is the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which was created by Congress to strengthen the role of small, innovative companies in federally supported research and development.

Traditionally, venture capital firms, larger pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and other private investors have provided the investments that these small businesses needed to advance a product through the stages of commercial development. Over the past decade, however, small businesses have struggled to secure such funding. It has been reported that last year only 5 to 6 percent of biomedical deals into which U.S. venture capital firms entered were with companies in the formative stages.  Read more  

The NCI Cancer Bulletin is produced by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI, which was established in 1937, leads the national effort to eliminate the suffering and death due to cancer. Through basic, clinical, and population-based biomedical research and training, NCI conducts and supports research that will lead to a future in which we can identify the environmental and genetic causes of cancer, prevent cancer before it starts, identify cancers that do develop at the earliest stage, eliminate cancers through innovative treatment interventions, and biologically control those cancers that we cannot eliminate so they become manageable, chronic diseases. For more information on cancer, call 1-800-4-CANCER or visit http://www.cancer.gov. NCI Cancer Bulletin staff can be reached at ncicancerbulletin@mail.nih.gov.