Module manager: Fiona Errington-Mais
Email: F.Errington@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2026/27
As per parent programme specification.
This module is not approved as an Elective
The cancer drug development module provides an overview of current anti-cancer treatments and the challenges that exist for successful treatment. Importantly, this module explores preclinical cancer drug development pathways and the challenges associated with identifying effective anti-cancer drugs for translation these into clinical trials. This includes multiple considerations including cancer drug pharmacology and toxicology, experimental in vitro and in in vivo cancer models, cancer prevention and the design of early and late clinical trials.
This module aims to enable to students to gain:
1. Knowledge in the processes behind drug development for cancer therapies
2. Understand the challenges in developing successful therapies against cancer
3. Knowledge in cancer drug pharmacology
4. An understanding of clinical trial design and interpretation, as well as a good understanding of cancer prevention strategies.
On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
LO1: demonstrate advanced knowledge of preclinical drug development in cancer
LO2: formulate novel study outline to develop and test new drugs against new anti-cancer targets
LO3: identify key findings which led to the clinical use of anti-cancer drugs and critically appraise clinical trial data
LO4: critically appraise and summarise cancer drug development research
SLO1 Demonstrate proficient use on a range of digital tools including bibliographic databases to retrieve literature and software to analyse and present data. (working, academic, digital skills)
SLO2 Demonstrate critical evaluation of experimental approaches and published literature relevant to biomedical research. (academic skills)
SLO3 Demonstrate efficient time management skills in preparing and presenting academic work. (working, academic skills)
SLO4 Demonstrate the ability to disseminate scientific information clearly, both in a verbal and written form. (working, enterprise and academic skills)
SLO5 Demonstrate the ability to use the correct scientific language and good academic practice, including referencing. (academic skills)
Review of current cancer therapies and problems of resistance to drugs
Preclinical cancer drug development, methodology and tools
Cancer drug pharmacology and toxicology
Clinical trial evaluation of anti-cancer drugs
An introduction to cancer prevention, the socio-economics of drug development and patient outcome centred research
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Supervision | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Lecture | 12 | 1 | 12 |
| Practical | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| Seminar | 12 | 1 | 12 |
| Private study hours | 118 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 34 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 152 | ||
As formative feedback for the essay, each student is assigned a tutor and can submit an essay content page /plan of the proposed commentary related to key findings associated with an anti-cancer drug development.
For the creative drug development poster design, students attend a designated session where they present their poster and receive feedback from a tutor and their peers.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Essay | Summative - 2000-word essay | 60 |
| Presentation | Summative - Poster presentation (oral presentation) | 40 |
| Coursework | Report - Formative - Submit content page/plan for review by tutor. | 0 |
| Coursework | Poster - Formative - Practice poster presentation and feedback | 0 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
There is no compensation between assessments for this module. Students must pass each individual assessment in order to pass the module.
Check the module area in Minerva for your reading list
Last updated: 22/05/2026
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team