Mays Cancer Center at UT Health SA

Project Summary—Experimental and Developmental Therapeutics (EDT) Program
The Experimental and Developmental Therapeutics (EDT) Program is one of three interactive research programs
of the Mays Cancer Center (MCC) at the University of Texas Health San Antonio (UT Health SA). Andrew
Brenner, M.D., Ph.D. and Manjeet Rao, Ph.D. serve as Co-Leaders of the EDT Program. The primary focus of
the EDT Program is to improve treatment of cancer through basic, translational, and clinical research. The EDT
Program is the hub for clinical development of discoveries made by all members of MCC. The EDT Program
members have expertise spanning experimental and developmental therapeutics – from initial target discovery,
to IND regulatory approval, to early-phase clinical trials. The EDT Program members pursue this research
focused on three major themes: 1) Neuro-oncology; 2) Immuno-oncology; and 3) Drug repurposing. In addition
to these major themes, the EDT Program has one emerging theme: Targeted therapeutics. EDT members will
advance the translational potential within these themes through the following Specific Aims: 1) Discovery of
novel targets; 2) Development of new therapeutic agents and approaches; and 3) Conduct of early-phase clinical
trials of novel therapies. The EDT Program currently has 36 members, representing 13 departments within three
schools (Medical, Dental and Graduate) at UT Health SA. Two members are from the University of Texas at
Austin and one member from Texas State University. Fifteen members lead clinical trials. The EDT Program
members have $5.7M of peer-reviewed cancer-related funding (27 grants). Of those, $2.7M are from 15 NCI
grants. From January 2014 to June 2019, EDT Program members coauthored 414 peer-reviewed cancer-related
publications, 24% were from intra-programmatic collaborations and 16% were from inter-programmatic
collaborations. In addition, 79% of these publications involve multi-institutional collaborations, including 192
(46%) publications with other NCI-designated Cancer Centers. EDT members use all of the MCC-supported
Shared Resources to pursue their cross-cutting research, especially the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Mass
Spectrometry, Drug Discovery and Structural Biology facilities. EDT members have also led 130 interventional
clinical trials, and in 2018 alone, 226 patients were accrued to intervention trials.

Grant Number: 3P30CA054174-29S1
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Andrew Brenner