Zelenirstat cancer pill made in Alberta shows promising early results
Global News
Zelenirstat, a cancer-fighting pill made in Alberta, may have the power to save lives — but millions more in clinical trial funding and donations are needed to make it a reality.
Imagine being able to treat cancer by taking one pill a day. Right now, a research team at the University of Alberta is trialing just that.
Professor Luc Berthiaume has been working to find a cure for cancer for decades.
“I came here to find a new way to kill cancer cells with minimized side effects,” Berthiaume said of joining the U of A.
Years ago, he had an idea to treat cancer in an unconventional way. His idea even got him laughed at while attending graduate school at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec.
But now, clinical trials are proving his theory by attacking mitochondria in cells.
“It inhibits the cell signalling inside cells that tells cells to grow aberrantly without stopping. They grow, grow, grow,” Berthiaume explained.
“In addition to inhibiting the growth, our drug suffocates the cells and starves them and this effect is more preponderant in the cancer cells, rather than in normal cells.”
His novel drug shuts down the cell’s metabolism, preventing them from converting oxygen into energy.
