(image from The Australian)
A new drug is showing great promise in the fight against cancer.
Called EBC-46, the compound is extracted from the fruit of the Blushwood tree, a variety that only grows in the Queensland rainforests in Australia. When injected into tumors, they are able to successfully shrink and even destroy them completely. The latest study, published in the journal PLOS One, was conducted by Dr. Glen Boyle and other scientists at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute.
In the study, they injected the drug directly into models of melanoma, head, neck, and colon cancers. For majority of the cases, viability of the cancer cells were disabled within four hours, eventually leading to the tumors’ destruction. According to the study, EBC-46 triggers a cellular response which causes blood supply to the tumor to be cut off completely. In 70 percent of the cases tested in the pre-clinical study, the demise of the tumors was enduring, with very little relapse over a 12-month period.
EBC-46 is a cancer drug currently being developed by QBiotics. While no human trials have been done yet (they still need final regulatory approval to begin one), it has been successfully used by practicing veterinarians in curing tumors on animals, including those in dogs, cats, and horses, with a formal veterinary clinical trial currently happening in the US and Australia. Do note, in its present state, the drug is only being tested for tumors that can be accessed via direct injection, with testing for metastatic cancers (i.e. those that have already spread) still a long way out.