4 months ago
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) -- Some of the most exciting new cancer drug discoveries are being developed by scientists at Georgetown University Medical Center.
Dr. Milton Brown is an MD, a Ph.D and a PI. The Principal Investigator in the Drug Discovery Program he established at Georgetown three years ago. The aim of the program is to develop cutting edge, new types of drugs.
Having a program like this imbedded in a medical school is unique. Typically, when you develop a drug the protein is discovered at an institution, the actual drug is discovered at the pharmaceutical industry.
Known world wide in his field as "Dr. Drug Designer", Brown's colleagues liken him to a "chemical locksmith."
Dr. Brown tells us, "It's exciting to have the opportunity to take discoveries that very brilliant scientist have discovered and be able to put keys in those locks and try to turn the locks on and off."
Currently, Brown and his team of 25 investigators have several dozen projects in the pipeline, 20 patents, and nine new molecules or potential drugs that have gone from concept into preclinical testing. Some of the drugs could even produce a cure.
The tiny droplets in this vial could mimic the necessary molecule restoring function to cells for women with the BRCA 1 negative protein.
"We are dedicated not just to diseases that are blockbusters but to the diseases that can make a real impact. It may only save 500-1000 people a year, but the idea you've provided something that makes this world a better place, it just makes me gratified," Dr Brown says.
When will a treatment or cure for cancer be widely available? Brown says there are too many variables not in his control determining that.
Dr Brown tells us, "We hope that the therapies we develop are going to save this generation. That is the goal we are working as hard as we can to provide new therapies for this present generation. And if that is not the case then their will be medicines for our next generation. For our daughters and our granddaughters. For me I find peace in that. That we are not leaving them to fend for themselves."
