Media Release

Mangaluru, Aug 13: A research team of faculty members and PharmD students at the College of Pharmacy – Gulf Medical University in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (USA) discovered a novel compound that can inhibit the growth of cancer cells.

A research team at College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University designed, chemically synthesized, and screened a compound that can inhibit the growth of several different types of cancer cells by inhibiting one of the enzymes implicated in the abnormal growth of cancer cells. The compound was subjected to several laboratory testing procedures to confirm its effectiveness against different cancer cell types and to study its effects and mechanism of action on cancer cells. The new novel compound showed interesting results and the ability to inhibit the growth and division of the various cancer cells such as leukemia, breast cancer and colon cancer cells.

The research project was done in collaboration with the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in the USA. The research team presented some of the results of this study at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting that was held between June 22 and 25 as a virtual conference due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The GMU research team has two faculty members from the department of pharmaceutical sciences, Dr Ahmed Thabet Negmeldin, assistant professor of medicinal chemistry and Dr Ahmed Al-Abd, associate professor of pharmacology. Also, the research team involves two senior PharmD students, Fatiha Hammed and Dalia Yousef who are currently in their final year and doing their advanced pharmacy practise experience rotations at College of Pharmacy, Gulf Medical University.

It is worth noting that the College of Pharmacy at Gulf Medical University is one of the pioneering colleges in pharmacy education. The College of Pharmacy at Gulf Medical University started its PharmD programme in 2008 and received the American Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) certification for the PharmD programme in 2019. The college of pharmacy offers to the PharmD students international exchange opportunities every year in cooperation with universities in the United States of America, where students spend a training period at one of the American universities including Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Saint Joseph Connecticut and Medical College of Wisconsin. Also, the college of pharmacy provides clinical training opportunities for students at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Hospital and other hospitals.