PhD defence F. (Florance) Atrafi

In the past decade we have seen major improvements in the treatment of cancer. Nevertheless, many forms of extensive stage cancers remain incurable. Yearly, thousands of new anticancer drugs are developed and tested. However, only 7% percent of these drugs are eventually registered as a new therapy. The reason why the majority of these drugs fail to show efficacy in patients is usually not clear. A possible explanation for the poor outcome can be that the optimal dose of the drug was not determined. The optimal dose is high enough to kill the tumour cells but low enough to be tolerated. This thesis describes a novel dose selection method that include statistical modelling  to determine the maximum tolerated dose of a novel anticancer drug given in combination with another drug. This novel method determines the maximum tolerated dose of anticancer drugs more accurately than the usual design which does not apply statistical modelling. Secondly, this thesis also conclude that by encapsulating more chemotherapy (docetaxel) in a bigger nanoparticle formulation (CPC634), the drug can be reach the tumour more efficiently and results in higher drug concentration in the tumour compared to normal chemotherapy formulation. The findings in this thesis have the potential in improve drug development in oncology.

The PhD defences will not take place publicly in the usual way. A live stream link has been provided to candidate. The ceremony will begin exactly at 15:30.