Dr. Tak Mak, Director of The Campbell Family Institute for Breast Cancer Research, speaks during a press conference regarding the new breakthrough Cancer CFI-400945 drug that will enter clinical trials next month at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.
Image Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
June 18, 2013 - 3:13 PM
TORONTO - A Canadian-U.S. team of researchers has developed a new "sharp-shooter" drug they hope will be a breakthrough in treating several types of cancer.
The experimental drug is known for now as CFI-400945 and is a new class of cancer drug that targets a certain enzyme that gives rise to some malignancies.
Those tumours include breast, ovarian, colorectal, pancreatic and prostate cancers.
The researchers have applied to Health Canada and the U.S. FDA to begin testing the drug in patients.
Dr. Tak Mak of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto and Dr. Dennis Slamon of the University of California, Los Angeles, led the teams that developed the drug.
The two world-renowned researchers have spent a decade developing the drug, funded solely by money raised through donations.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013