Great news was shared on August 6th...

A molecule discovered in the Janda lab has just been approved as a new first-in-class drug for brain cancer.

Dr. Nicholas Jacob, a Skaggs Institute graduate student in our lab at the time, was instrumental in this discovery made more than a decade ago and published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition in 2014.

After its publication, the molecule was used by the company Chimerix (acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals earlier this year) to develop their drug Modeyso for the treatment of H3 K27M-mutant diffuse midline glioma, a rare and highly aggressive brain tumor. Read their press release here.

Dr. Janda said, "Over the years, whenever I interviewed incoming graduate students, I would ask them what their goal was. Many would respond that they wanted make a drug. I would just roll my eyes at that point as this takes years, if it ever happens. In this case, it took 11 years."

We are proud to have been part of this success story.