A group of scientists from Baburaoji Gholap College, Pune; Biocon Limited, Bengaluru and CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, has redesigned one cancer drug to get new chemicals which themselves may be potential anti-cancer and anti-bacterial drugs.

The group has synthesized several new compounds from Sunitinib, a drug used for treating kidney cancers. At least one of them promises to be more effective than Sunitinib itself. The team has tested the compounds on different types of human cancer cells – prostate, breast, cervical and monocyte. In addition, the new compounds have been tested on four types of bacteria as well - Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

According to the scientists, one of the compounds, code named 9g, seems to be the most effective against both cancer cells and bacterial agents. Other compounds too showed potential anti-proliferation and antibacterial activity. Further structural optimization of these compounds may offer new anticancer drug.