Developmental Therapeutics

Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory

Developing novel therapies for cancer in both children and adults is a major goal of the TTUHSC SOM Cancer Center. Active drug development research is ongoing in the Center in all phases (generation of lead molecules, activity testing in cell culture and animal models, preclinical and clinical pharmacology, and clinical trials).

The Cancer Center Developmental Therapeutics (DT) Program is led by Barry Maurer, MD PhD. Dr. Maurer is a pediatric oncologist who carries out laboratory drug development research, develops and chairs phase I trials of new agents in pediatric cancers, and works closely with adult oncologists to develop and carry out early phase trials of new drugs in adult cancers.

The DT program benefits greatly from having a robust clinical pharmacology laboratory directed by Min Kang, PharmD. The pharmacology laboratory is equipped with a tandem mass spectrometer (ABI 4000 Q Trap) and four HPLC systems and carries out preclinical and clinical PK assays for drugs developed by Center investigators and also in support of clinical trials in the South Plains Oncology Consortium (SPOC), The New Approaches to Neuroblastoma Therapy (NANT) Consortium, and the Children's Oncology Group (COG).