A team of researchers across The University of Manchester have shown that a new class of drugs are able to stop ovarian cancer cells growing.

The Cancer Research UK and Wellcome Trust funded study, published in the journal Cancer Cell, showed that the drugs, called PARG inhibitors, can kill ovarian cancer cells by targeting weaknesses within their ability to copy their DNA.

The first-in-class PARG inhibitor PDD00017273, was discovered in the Drug Discovery Unit at the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, part of The University of Manchester, as part of a targeted program to discover PARG inhibitors for the clinic.

This program is currently being progressed through a collaboration with IDEAYA Biosciences, Inc., an oncology-focused biotechnology company committed to the discovery of breakthrough synthetic lethality medicines and immuno-oncology therapies.

These findings are promising for patients diagnosed with ovarian cancer, the sixth commonest cause of cancer in women in the UK and causes more than 4,000 deaths each year.