IGF Oncology, a St. Paul-based company, reported the publication of results of a study of its new targeted anti-cancer drug in a peer-reviewed scientific journal. The company’s drug is a modified version of a commonly used cancer chemotherapy drug, modified to be targeted much more specifically to cancer cells and to bypass healthy cells. The results in mice, which are reported in the June issue of Translational Research, show the drug is significantly more effective than the standard drug, methotrexate, even at 6-fold lower dose. The lower dose is expected to result in lower side effects. The study was carried out in collaboration with the University of Minnesota. The authors include Hugh McTavish, the founder of IGF Oncology, and Arkadiusz Dudek, Oncologist and Assoc. Professor of Medicine at the University of Minnesota.

Hugh McTavish, the founder of IGF Oncology and inventor of the drug, is a Ph.D. biochemist and former cancer patient. He survived two bouts with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma more than 5 years ago and was treated with chemotherapy and radiation. Out of that experience, he came up with an idea for targeting chemotherapy drugs more to cancer cells, so the drugs would be more effective and have lower side effects. “The idea came to me around the time I was throwing up in a bathroom stall at a movie theater during my chemotherapy,” said Dr. McTavish.

IGF Oncology’s targeted drug is formed by chemically attaching a standard drug to a hormone that is related to insulin. The receptors for the hormone, known as IGF, are up to 50-times more common on cancer cells than healthy cells. Thereby, the drug binds mostly to cancer cells and mostly bypasses healthy cells.

The research was funded in part by the Randy Shaver Cancer and Community Fund of the Twin Cities.

Source
IGF Oncology

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