First-line treatments for many solid tumor cancers are based on fluorouracil, a small molecule drug that remains the backbone of chemotherapy treatments for more than sixty years. fluorouracil is clinically useful but metabolically inefficient. A widely cited review reports ~80–85% of administered fluorouracil is catabolized to inactive metabolites, while only ~1–3% of the original dose is associated with anabolic actions tied to cytotoxic effect on tumor and normal tissues. There remains a significant unmet need for a new standard of care.
 
CF10 is a next generation fluoropyrimidine engineered for direct tumor-active metabolite formation. The molecule is ~1,000× more potent vs fluorouracil. CF10 is designed to increase the fraction of drug that becomes tumor-active metabolites, vs the largely inactive fate of fluorouracil.
In published mouse survival data, CF10 materially extended survival versus fluorouracil, with the fluorouracil arm reaching 0% survival by ~37 days, while CF10 maintained approximately ~50% survival through ~90 days. A recent peer-reviewed paper on CF10 in colorectal cancer liver metastases further supports advancement to early-phase clinical testing and discusses CF10 activity relative to fluorouracil and leucovorin.
 
Deep Creek Pharma is developing novel fluoropyrimidine polymers to improve outcomes in patients with colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, and other malignancies. In many cancer patients, targeted therapies specific for their malignancy are unavailable and immunotherapy is not effective. In many of these patients, chemotherapy with regimens that include 5-FU is the most effective treatment option. However, long-term survival rates for patients with advanced disease that are treated with these regimens is very low and many patients treated with these regimens display serious systemic toxicities. Fluoropyrimidine polymers are designed to improve outcomes even while reducing systemic toxicities.