Nanomedicine Reviving a Cancer Drug

Filed in archive Biotech on August 7, 2008

Many effective drugs never enter the market because of Toxicity and safety issues. An old cancer drug called TNP-470 was being researched in 1990, but clinical studies were stopped when neurologic toxicity was found in patients treated with this agent. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston have created and tested a safer version of TNP-470 in mice. This drug may be one of the most effective drugs against cancer, and it may not re-enter clinical studies thanks to nanotechnology that allowed the drug to be encased in a micelle, a spherical polymer coating that resembles the fluff on a dandelion. This new formulation is being called Lodamin. Read about the story here. Photo Credit: Ofra Benny, Children's Hospital Boston