Lok Sabha Question No. 2909 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-12
Subject: Research Work in the Area of Cancer
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: Hasmukhbhai Somabhai Patel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2909

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.03.2021)

## RESEARCH WORK IN THE AREA OF CANCER

## 2909. SHRI PATEL HASMUKHBHAI SOMABHAI:

Will  the  Minister of  SCIENCE  AND  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

विज्ञान एिं प्रौद्योगिकी मंत्री

- (a) whether  the  Council  of  Scientific  and  Industrial  Research  (CSIR)  and other Department/Institutions under the Ministry are undertaking research for treatment of cancer;
- (b)
- if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether the CSIR constituent lab, CSIR- Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (IIIM) is developing an anti-cancer drug code named IIIM-290 which  possess  potent  cytotoxicity  in  leukemia  and  pancreatic  cancer cells; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF HEALTH AND FAMILY WELFARE; MINISTER OF SCIENCE AND

## TECHNOLOGY; AND MINISTER OF EARTH SCIENCES (DR. HARSH VARDHAN)

- (a)&(b) Council of Scientific &  Industrial Research  (CSIR) through its constituent  laboratories,  namely,  CSIR-Central  Drug  Research  Institute (CSIR-CDRI),  CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB), CSIR-Indian institute of Chemical Biology (CSIR-IICB), CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine (CSIR-IIIM) etc., has been pursuing R&D activities in the area of cancer. In doing so, CSIR efforts are focused on: understanding  the  disease  biology;  disease  diagnostics;  drug  discovery and  development;  studying  the environmental  &  genetic causes  of specific cancers in India; and creating innovative platforms for enhancing the innovation in the domain.

The cancer research at CSIR-IGIB is focused to find ways of suppression of  telomerase  is  important  with  promise  in  therapy.  A  protein  called telomerase when present in high amounts is known to promote cancer,

and spread of cancer (metastasis) in different organs. Research at CSIRIGIB  shows  that  how  telomerase,  which  otherwise  is  tightly  regulated, gets  mis-regulated  in  cancer  cells.  New  mechanistic  understanding enable  researchers  to  design  approaches  that  include  small  molecules and  peptides  to  decrease  telomerase  in  aggressive  cancer  cells.  These anti-telomerase  agents  might  have  potential  therapeutic  value,  which needs to be tested further.

The cancer research at CSIR-CDRI is primarily focused on prevention of cancer in women particularly cervical and triple negative breast cancer (TNBC).  CSIR-CDRI  is  also  exploring  on  design  and  synthesis  of  new clinical entities (NCE)  against  clinically validated targets in  TNBC. Simultaneously,  the  institute  is  involved  in  basic  research  in  cancer  in understanding  the  disease  biology  with  the  objective  to  discover  new targets in breast cancer therapy.

CSIR-IIIM  has  been  actively  working  in  the  anticancer  drug  discovery area,  with  the  aim  to  discover  new  potent  and  effective  preclinical candidates and take them to human clinical trials. CSIR-IIIM's extensive efforts in this area, has led to the discovery of IIIM-290, a new chemical entity  which  display  favourable  profile  in  all  preclinical  studies.  The regulatory  safety  pharmacology  (IND-enabling  studies)  of  the  lead  are completed, and IND filed to DCGI in January 2020. The New Drugs Division of  Central  Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO), Government of India granted the permission to CSIR-IIIM for conducting the clinical trial of this important drug candidate IIIM-290 in pancreatic cancer patients.

Research  at  CSIR-IICB  is  focused  to  address  different  areas  of  Cancer mechanism,  management  and  treatment.  In  the  process,  CSIR-IICB  has been instrumental in garnering novel insights in  terms  of  understanding the  biology  of  the  disease  and  also  contributed  significantly  to  paving ways for novel therapeutic approaches in Cancer treatment.

CSIR  has  also  been  supporting  drug  research  through  its  infrastructure and facilities as well its creation of trained human resource to carry out drug research in the country.

Some ongoing projects at CSIR labs in the area of cancer are provided in Annexure-I.

- (c)&(d)  Yes,  Sir.  CSIR-Indian  Institute  of  Integrative  Medicine  (CSIR-IIIM)  is developing an anti-cancer drug code named IIIM-290. This candidate has currently  reached  phase  I/II  clinical  trial  in  pancreatic  cancer  patients.

IIIM-290  is  a  new  chemical  entity  which  display  favourable  profile  in all preclinical studies. The regulatory safety pharmacology (IND-enabling studies) of the lead are completed, and IND filed to DCGI in January 2020. The New Drugs Division of  Central  Drugs  Standard  Control  Organization (CDSCO), Govt. of India granted the permission, on 28 th  May 2020, to CSIRIIIM for conducting the clinical trial of this important drug candidate IIIM290 in pancreatic cancer patients. The clinical trial is expected to start soon to assess the safety, tolerability and exposure of the compound in humans  along  with  the  early  efficacy  indicators  in  pancreatic  cancer patients.

*****

## Annexure-I

Research projects in the area of Cancer Biology are being implemented at CSIR labs are as under:

|   S. No. | PROJECT TITLE                                                                                                                                                  | Funding Agency                   | Start date of Project   | Scheduled Completion date of Project   |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------|-------------------------|----------------------------------------|
|        1 | Elucidating mechanisms underlying breast cancer invasion and metastatis: Role of E3 ubiquitin ligase Fbw7 in suppressing breast tumorigenesis                  | Lady Tata Memorial Trust, Mumbai | 06-07-2017              | 05-07-2020                             |
|        2 | Development of small molecular inhibitor specifically targeting mTORC2 for cancer therapeutics: Development of targeted anti- cancer strategy                  | SERB DST                         | 17-03-2018              | 16-03-2021                             |
|        3 | Amino acids derived steroidal and non- steroidal Ligands as inhibitors of steroid 5-α- reductase in cancer                                                     | DAE                              | 18-06-2018              | 17-06-2021                             |
|        4 | Determination and structural elucidation of bioactive compounds from the selected traditional medicinal plants of Mizoram with a focus on anticancer compounds | DBT                              | 29-09-2018              | 28-09-2021                             |
|        5 | Targeting Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) by a plant derived small molecule: An in-vitro and in-vivo approach                                             | SERB DST                         | 30-07-2018              | 29-07-2021                             |
|        6 | Role of p21Waf1Cip1 in regulation of autophagy: its implication in tumorigenesis and cancer therapy                                                            | SERB DST                         | 25-02-2019              | 24-02-2022                             |
|        7 | Repurposing of Anticancer Drugs for the Treatment of Malaria                                                                                                   | DBT                              | 12-06-2019              | 11-06-2022                             |
|        8 | Development of Novel Small Molecule SMAC Mimetics as Cancer Therapeutics                                                                                       | BIRAC                            | 03-05-2019              | 02-11-2020                             |
|        9 | Bio prospecting of medicinal plants of Sikkim Himalaya against breast cancer angiogenesis                                                                      | DBT                              | 30-09-2019              | 29-09-2022                             |
|       10 | Harnessing therapeutic potential of novel spisulosine derivative as robust autophagy inducer against triple negative breast cancer {TNBC) in vitro and in vivo | ICMR                             | 22-08-2019              | 21-08-2022                             |
|       11 | Development of new Smac Mimetic against chemotherapy resistant colon cancer                                                                                    | CSIR                             | 21-07-2020              | 31-03-2022                             |
|       12 | Deciphering epigenetic dysregulation in Hematopoietic stem cell transformation in                                                                              | DBT                              | 29.06.2017              | 19.12.2020                             |

|    | human Myelogenous leukemia                                                                                                                                        |                                                 |            |            |
|----|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------------|------------|------------|
| 13 | Development of a combinatorial nano-vehicles assisted therapeutic system for the efficient treatment of Glioma                                                    | DST                                             | 23.08.2018 | 22.08.2021 |
| 14 | Glucocorticoid Receptor-Assisted Drug Sensitization (GRADS) in colorectal cancer therapy: Nano-therapeutic strategy towards repurposing of anti-cancer drugs      | SERB                                            | 18.09.2018 | 17.09.2021 |
| 15 | 1s Rad50 a possible molecular link between chronic respiratory diseases and lung cancer?                                                                          | DBT                                             | 29.07.2015 | 28.05.2019 |
| 16 | Transcriptomic Analysis of µTumor Spheroid Derived from Single Cancer Stem Cell to Identify Novel Therapeutic Targets in Breast Cancer                            | SERB                                            | 29.01.2020 | 28.01.2023 |
| 17 | Bio-assay guided isolation of anti-cancer compounds from Pterocarpus santalinus and assessment of cytotoxicity, pharmacokinetics and detailed molecular mechanism | National Biodiversity Authority, Govt. of India | 24.03.2020 | 23.02.2022 |
| 18 | Mechanism of Ets-1 transcription factor- mediated metabolic reprogramming and tumorigenesis in ovarian cancer                                                     | SERB                                            | 29.03.2017 | 28.03.2020 |

*****