Scientists have developed a holy grail cancer drug that kills all solid cancer tumors while leaving other cells unharmed.
The new molecule targets a protein present in most cancers that helps tumors grow and multiply in the body.
It is significant because this protein – the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) – was previously thought to be ‘undruggable’.
The drug was tested on 70 different cancer cells in the lab – including those derived from breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin, and lung cancer – and was effective against them all.
The pill is the culmination of 20 years of research and development by the City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles, one of America’s largest cancer centers.
The medicine is codenamed AOH1996 after Anna Olivia Healy, who died in 2005 from a deadly childhood cancer aged nine. Dr Linda Malkas, who leads the research team, met Anna’s father just before she died and was inspired to find a cure in her memory.
It comes amid excitement that cancer will be curable within the coming decade, a claim that has been made by the scientists who invented the Pfizer Covid vaccine.