Biopharmaceutical company Ikerchem is working on the laboratory design and small scale synthesis of new molecules with oncological applications. These molecules are capable of inhibiting cell growth in many types of cancer, including those which are more common and those that require more aggressive treatment, such as pancreatic, lung, prostate, liver and breast cancer.

Ikerchem is working with molecules with a low molecular weight that regulate the activity of several types of therapeutic targets, all of which are in the field of epigenetics (the study of all the non-genetic factors that intervene in the development of an organism). This means it seeks to regulate the activity of enzymes involved in genetic regulation mechanisms that do not imply DNA sequence changes, in order to promote the action of tumour suppressor genes.

A very important feature of the molecules designed by Ikerchem is that there are instances of scientific evidence to believe that they can drastically reduce the number and seriousness of the secondary effects that currently occur in most chemotherapy treatments.

After almost finishing the preclinical studies with the molecules, Ikerchem will continue developing the molecules to complete phases 1 and 2 of the clinical trials. Phases 1 and 2 consist of testing the molecules on patients suffering from cancer in order to determine their effectiveness and possible toxicity. For phase 3 of the clinical trials, the final one before marketing a drug, Ikerchem is considering the possibility of selling licences for the molecules to pharmaceutical companies.

Ikerchem is located in San Sebastián and, together with the line of business described, provides contract R&D services based on computational tools and organic synthesis.