Magnetic medicine to fight cancer
Pharmacists at the University of Sydney believe they have discovered a method for magnetically directing drugs through the body.
The team of scientists led by Dr Nial Wheate, along with colleagues in Scotland, have developed a new anticancer drug that has an iron oxide core as small as 5 nanometres in size (1/1000th the width of a human hair).
The breakthrough feature of this new drug is the ability of its iron core to move under the influence of a magnet.
"When we take regular medication it is difficult to manage where it goes. But this discovery means we can potentially direct exactly where in the human body a drug goes. We can move it to the desired cancer tumor site using powerful magnetic fields,” said Dr. Wheate, from the University's Faculty of Pharmacy .
“Otherwise, a strong magnet could be implanted into a tumour, and draw the drug into the cancer cells that way."
The discovery has been published in the international journal Inorganica Chimica Acta.
Click here to read more on the University website.
Image: Dr. Nial Wheate / © University of Sydney
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