Drug Conjugates. A new tool for delivering medicines to microscopic targets in the body. There are two currently being used in cancer treatments, but many more are in the works with drug makers. The article explains it best by stating, "they couple two therapies, and basically work like guided missiles. A toxic warhead is strapped to a missile that homes in on and drops its payload on a specific tumor. Such pinpoint aim has been an important goal for decades, because it could maximize a drug's impact while limiting side effects, such as the hair loss that accompanies chemotherapy's indiscriminate march through the body."
This is a huge breakthrough and could potentially be the next big breakthrough pharma and biotech has been looking for. Several heavyweights like Amgen, Pfizer, and Novartis have drug-conjugate treatments in testing for pancreative, kidney, and other cancers. Merck is working with Endocyte on a drug-conjugate for ovarian cancer that uses a very small molecule, unlike what has been established so far.
The goal of this is to give oncologists and patients a better shot at fighting cancer. The approach is to target the specific tumor cells rather than hitting healthy cells as well. This is easier said than done and research dates back to the mid-seventies.
To read more, check out Drug Conjugates
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