Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, an expert in drug development, has developed methods to speed up the approval process for cancer treatment drugs.

Von Hoff, director of the Arizona Cancer Center and professor of medicine and pathology, received the 11th Annual Herbert and Maxine Block Lectureship Award Wednesday for his research.

Von Hoff is an expert on the process of carcinogenesis and was involved in the initial development of many of the most widely used cancer drugs today. He was also instrumental in the process of making some of the common chemotherapies. He shared some of his methods with the doctors of the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital during the lecture.

In the past, it has taken many years for drugs to be created and approved for patients’ use.

Migeul Villalona, a medical professor at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and expert in pharmacogenetics, said it used to take 14 years from the discovery of a treatment to get drugs tested and approved.

“Time is very crucial in this process because some people die in about a year,” he said.

Von Hoff spoke about several ways to speed up the process of researching treatments for patients. He has been studying under-expressed and over-expressed genes in human DNA that are effected by cancer. By studying DNA, doctors can find clues to help them get through the testing process faster.

One of his new strategies is to study targets that don’t exist, or deleted genes. Researchers have studied deleted genes very little in the past. The focus on these missing targets in relation to treatments could cause a major breakthrough in the advancement of research.

Another way Von Hoff is making the research progress more quickly is by involving local doctors in the research process. He said researchers should welcome community oncologists to help get through phase one trials.

Von Hoff said science proceeds by trial and error. Normally it is hard to find people to participate in “phase one” research, but by involving the whole community, that process becomes easier. Local doctors have access to more patients willing to try new treatments.

Dr. Michael Grever from the College of Public and Medical Health said the medical school is trying to incorporate the community into their research to speed up advancements. Grever said this past weekend a large meeting was held with oncologists in the community.

Grever also said one of the first doses of fludarabine, a drug used for leukemia treatment, was given at Ohio State. Only 15 universities have “phase one” research, and OSU is one of them.

“OSU has been a key player since the late 1970s,” Grever said.

The doctors in attendance said they are eager to use some of Von Hoff’s methods. They are looking forward to ensuring that drugs become more readily available to patients.

“We need them now, not tomorrow,” Villalona said.

The award, was started in honor of Maxine and Herbert J. Block, who died of cancer. The Block’s descendants work together to raise money for cancer research. Every year, the Lectureship Award is given to an outstanding cancer researcher who presents a lecture about his or her research.