New type of chemotherapy drug being developed under UD leadership 05. May. 2025

An international research consortium led by the University of Debrecen (DE) has been awarded a grant under the ERA4Health partnership's Nano and advanced technologies for disease prevention, diagnostic and therapy (NANOTECMEC) call. The call was almost ten times oversubscribed and the decision-makers selected the funded projects after a two-round evaluation.

The professional leader of the winning NextNano4Cancer project is Ildikó Bácskay, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmacy (GYTK), UD. The consortium includes prestigious international institutions such as Taipei Medical University, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (ENS Lyon), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Vasile Goldiș Western University in Oradea, and the Hungarian Cylolab Ltd.

The NextNano4Cancer project, led by the UD GYTK, launched on 1 May, aims to achieve a breakthrough in cancer research by developing a new type of chemotherapeutic agent.

- This is a major milestone in the life of the faculty. The project involves a network of international and industrial researchers working together to identify new anti-tumour targets and to develop nanoscale drug delivery systems that combine the properties of macrocyclic compounds such as calixarene derivatives as well as cyclodextrins in a hitherto unexplored way," explained Ildikó Bácskay.

She added that the research is unique in that it delivers novel inhibitors of the CK2 enzyme (CK2i) to tumour cells in a self-assembled supramolecular nanosystem, improving the targeting and efficacy of treatment and helping to overcome drug resistance (MDR). The research will also pave the way for the design of a GMP-compliant manufacturing process to enable the most promising formulations to be developed for clinical development in the future.

Press Centre - OCs