A Melbourne based pharmaceutical company have developed a revolutionary drug which is reported to ‘melt-away cancer’ in stage four cancer patients.
The Australian developed drug, called Venetoclax, has already been given a fast track route to approval in the U.S, reports ABC News.
Venetoclax is part of a brand new generation of medicines which target specific cancer-causing biological factors in the body such as cell-structure mutilations.
Robert Oblak, a cancer patient suffering with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, was one of the first patients to take the drug.
Within a year, his cancer had gone into remission.
He said:
I think I was the eleventh person in the world to have it. It was amazing. It causes no side-effects. Nothing, absolutely nothing. I describe those pills as like taking Panadol.
It’s quite amazing. So even when it’s killing cells, you feel great.
Professor John Seymour, of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, looked over the original trial of Venetoclax and said:
Cells, when they are born, are destined to die and cancer cells and particularly leukaemia cells delay that death by using a protein called BCL2 that stops the normal time of death.
Venetoclax works by specifically blocking the action of that BCL2 and allows the cells to die in the way that they were destined to.
In the trial, which Professor Seymour monitored, four out of five participants noticed positive results, with one out of five reaching complete remission.
However, there were some negative effects with other participants suffering from side effects.
The geniuses behind Venetoclax, David Huang and his team at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, were awarded the Eureka Prize for Innovation in Medical Research at this year’s ceremony for their work with the drug.
I guess only time will tell with drugs such as these – but Venetoclax is certainly one giant revolutionary leap in the right direction towards finally conquering cancer once and for all.
