Testing of the first anti-cancer drug candidate begins. Green light from the United States drug surveillance body, the Food and Drug Administration (Fda), to the experimentation on the drug obtained in Singapore by combining a monoclonal antibody specialized in recognizing cancer cells and a drug capable of attacking them. That is, it is an ‘antibody-drug conjugate (Adc), the first of its kind developed in Singapore, and is indicated by the abbreviation EBC-129.
Anticancer drug, how it works
“This is an exciting new class of biopharmaceuticals that are very potent and designed as a targeted therapy for the treatment of cancer,” said Andre Choo, deputy executive director of the Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) of the government agency for science, technology and research (A*STAR). The new approach aims, in fact, to destroy diseased cells without affecting healthy ones and has also been designed to recognize cells from both the most common tumors and the rarest forms.
Vialli died of pancreatic cancer, with his friend Mauro the Foundation to raise funds for cancer and ALS research
The OK from the FDA concerns the experimentation on solid tumors and the start of the experimentation «is a recognition of the validity of our platform and of the ecosystem which, in Singapore, allows us to improve the impact of research and the discovery of medicines for potential patient outcomes,” BTI Executive Director Koh Boon Tong said in a statement. The Experimental Center for Drug Development (EDDC), the National Cancer Research Institute of Singapore (NCCS) and the Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology (IMCB) collaborated on the research.