[Image: FMT]
At a time when there are astonishing breakthroughs in every area of science, it’s good to know that not everyone is focussing on building AI robots and self-driving taxis.
We still have some foes that have been bugging humanity for centuries, among which cancer seems to be the toughest nut to crack. Fortunately, the tide seems to be turning in the battle against the dreaded disease.
A research team at the University of Alberta have been trialling a once-a-day drug that suffocates and starves cancer cells, with very little side-effects.
Professor Luc Berthiaume and his team have been working to find a cure for cancer for decades, but the recent success of their pill, called Zelenirstat, has been showing remarkable results. The novel drug shuts down a cancer cell’s metabolism, preventing it from converting oxygen into energy.
The best part is that it can be taken in the comfort of your home – no need to go to the hospital and no injections.
Clinical trials are proving that the drug attacks mitochondria in cells.
“It inhibits the cell signalling inside cells that tells cells to grow aberrantly without stopping. They grow, grow, grow,” Berthiaume explained. “In addition to inhibiting the growth, our drug suffocates the cells and starves them and this effect is more preponderant in the cancer cells, rather than in normal cells.”
The theory was first tested on cells, then in mice, and then on cancer patients with just a few months left to live.
“It’s the spread, or metastasis, of the cancer that really causes the cancer-related mortality people face,” explained PhD candidate Rony Pain, who’s working in Berthiaume’s lab.
The first patient to test the pill was in Edmonton at the Cross Cancer Institute. Then the pill was shared with other Canadian cancer hospitals, including the BC Cancer Care Centre, The Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto, and the Centre Hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal.
“We got a lymphoma patient that got a 30-per cent tumour reduction within just two to three weeks of treatment, so we were absolutely ecstatic because then we knew, yes, we do have something.”
One patient with a life expectancy of just a few months survived for 18 months on the pill. The scientists said their medication works best on blood cancers such as lymphoma or acute myeloid leukaemia, but it can also help with advanced solid cancers — tumours in the brain, lungs or ovaries.
Phase 1 trials have already shown that it was safe and even the American health authorities are taking notice, and are said to be fast-tracking the drug.
“We have what’s called a fast-track designation. It’s an orphan disease with the (Food and Drug Administration). It means that we could start commercializing and distributing the drug as soon as Phase 2 is done. No need for Phase 3, no need for Phase 4.”
“One of the things that’s really exciting about our drug is that it’s one pill a day with minimal side effects,” Berthiaume said.
Right now, Pacylex (Protein ACYLation EX) Pharmaceuticals Inc., the company Berthiaume co-founded, is desperately trying to raise money for its Phase 2 clinical trials. With trials running at a cost of about $20 million per cancer type, we reckon this is a far better investment than building another robot that can stack boxes.
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[Source: GlobalNews]
