Cancer destroying drugs under development

A new breed of 'destroyer drug' which only targets diseased cancer cells is in the first stages of development by the Oxfordshire-based biotechnology company Avidex.

Monoclonal antibodies can only destroy diseased cells on a cancer cell's surface. The new drugs called monoclonal T-cell receptors (mTCRs) are capable of hunting down and destroying all of the antigens inside the cancer cell. T-cells use the receptors to check peptides on the surface of cells and if the peptide should not be there, it is destroyed.

The UK researchers have already begun animal tests but predict that it will be two years before the new drugs could be tested on humans. Avidex's Dr Bent Jakobsen said: "It opens up a whole new area of research. The drugs are from the same class as monoclonal antibodies. The thing that's better is that they can hit targets that are broader. The most obvious target is cancer but mTCRs could also have applications in treating viral infections."