Israeli startup touts cancer treatment with no discernable side-effects
'It has the potential to make a huge impact' says one of two co-founders in Israel, in regards to new drug targeting damaged cells without harming healthy ones
A new protein-based cancer treatment was created by Israeli startup ExoProTher, touting no discernable side effects, with hopes to replace the more costly and damaging chemotherapy.
The biotech company’s founders sat down with the Israel innovation news site No Camels on Tuesday, explaining how the treatment works by targeting mutated cells without destroying healthy cells.
“We have screened a lot of different cancers,” Alex Tendler told No Camels. “We see the ability to cure very different cancers: colon, brain, lung, ovarian.”
The ExoProTher drug made use of a p53 protein, which first had its tumor fighting abilities discovered decades ago, but had not successfully treated cancer.
That was until until the Israeli scientists turned to an unexpected source.
“Chicken cells [are] proven to have similar functions to human cells but not to the point where the mutated cells can prevent them from working,” Tendler said, explaining the process of how p35 molecules bind to damaged DNA so that what is irreparable goes into apoptosis (cell death), thus preventing tumors from being formed in the first place.
In comparison, chemotherapy damages healthy cells during the process since it cannot distinguish between what’s good and what’s damaged, which then causes side effects such as hair loss, intense nausea, anemia, and damage to memory and concentration.
“There are many therapies today where blood is derived from the patient and the doctors engineer the drug substance to match that particular profile of that patient,” Lana Volokh said of another costly treatment. “But in our case, the drug can be applicable to almost everyone, almost every type of cancer.”
“It can be administered through vials to inject, through vials to inhale. It will allow large-scale manufacturing of our substance and make it affordable,” Volokh added.
Now being tested in the preclinical stage, the drug is expected to begin clinical trials in 2024. Tendler added, “we expect synergy between chemotherapy and our treatment in the initial stages,” and later it will become a standalone treatment.
“It has the potential to make a huge impact,” the Israeli scientist concluded.
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