The Center for Innovative Drug Discovery (CIDD), a joint venture between The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, has been awarded a $4,598,728 grant from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to support its research in designing better, more effective cancer drugs through small molecule drug discovery.

The grant will support the center’s ongoing research in the pre-clinical stage of small molecule cancer drug discovery, as well as provide opportunities to develop new cancer therapeutic programs. The CIDDis based on a multi-disciplinary drug discovery research platform built on a foundation of innovation and collaboration.

The CIDD will continue the focus on current cancer programs such as triple negative breast cancer, brain cancer and ovarian cancer. However, the CPRIT funding will also allow the center to venture further into discovering novel compounds for multiple types of cancers and expand the CIDD’s cancer program portfolio.

“This should be a game-changer for drug discovery efforts in San Antonio and South Texas,” said Dr. Matthew Hart, co-principal investigator from the UT Health Science Center. “The funding to our institutions will accelerate our high-throughput screening activities to identify the next generation of anti-cancer therapeutics.”