A natural product drug discovery pipeline for novel pancreatic cancer therapies : a new cancer research hub for the Hunter region of NSW

Background: The diagnosis of pancreatic cancer (PC) has dire consequences as it presents late and is rapidly progressive. Due to the significant heterogeneity, PC is one of the most devastating of human cancers. Treatment options are limited to surgery and/or treatment with gemcitabine, and regardless of intervention, patient outcomes are modest at best. Novel approaches and new treatments are urgently required, and natural product-derived compounds, such as taxol/paclitaxel, irinotecan and gemcitabine provide justification for their continued investigation for novel drug discoveries. Aims: New therapeutic interventions begin in the laboratory. At the University of Newcastle's Central Coast Campus, we are aiming to commission an Australian PC screening facility as part of a PC translational treatment pipeline. Our focus is to exploit the unique evolutionary adaptations that natural products have developed to identify biologically active compounds that target aberrant mechanisms driving pancreatic carcinogenesis.