A team of medical researchers, including some from Toronto’s Princess Margaret Hospital, are touting a new drug which could lead to a breakthrough in the treatment of cancer.
The drug is known by the alphanumeric designation cfi-400945. It targets a specific enzyme that is involved in certain types of breast, ovarian, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, among others. When the drug was tested on mice that had been bred to develop cancerous tumours from human breast and ovarian cancers, the drug significantly reduced the size of the tumour.
The drug has been submitted for fda approval. If accepted, patient trials would begin by the end of the year.
Dr. Tak Mak is the co-principal investigator on the study and a University of Toronto professor. In a news conference at the Princess Margaret Hospital, Dr. Mak cautioned the public against pinning their hopes for a cancer cure on the drug.
cbc News quoted Dr Mak as saying: “To find a cure is our shared dream; our nightmare is that it is not yet within our reach…Cure is not a word we like to use lightly and we refuse to use it recklessly or promise you something we cannot deliver.”
With files from CBC News and The Globe and Mail
