MDMA crystals: cure for cancer? Photo credit St Albert http://www.flickr.com/photos/64092100@N02/5842553365/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Birmingham University researchers have claimed (in a study publised in the Investigational New Drugs journal) that a modified form of MDMA (the active ingredient in the drug ecstasy) can be used to treat cancers, including 100 percent of leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma cells. It is apparently 100 more times effective at suppressing growth of cancerous cells. The research has so far only worked in test tubes, and any treatment on patients, however, would be more than a decade away.
The drug was already known to be effective against over half of white blood cell cancers – but the large doses required would have killed a patient.
“As MDMA is a dangerous drug, the researchers need also to find out if they can create safe versions to treat people with the disease. Although survival rates for leukaemia have improved over the past thirty years new approaches to treatment are still needed to tackle this disease even more effectively,” said Dr Julie Sharp of Cancer Research UK.
- Soapy membranes. “You’d never have thought an illegal rave drug could hold the key to beating cancer,” gawped The Daily Miror, whilst The Daily Telegraph quoted one of the authors of the study, Professor John Gordon: “This is an exciting next step towards using a modified form of MDMA to help people suffering from blood cancer. While we would not wish to give people false hope, the results of this research hold the potential for improvement in treatments in years to come.” The BBC reported that “[i]t is believed that the drug is attracted to the fat in the membranes of the cancerous cells. Researchers think it makes the cells ‘a bit more soapy’, which can break down the membrane and kill the cell.”
“Rumours that research was funded by a Dr Ebenezer Goode have been strongly denied.” Pulsetoday.co.uk
- Sorted for, er, cancer killers. “Get your glow sticks…” tweeted journalist Brian Wheelan, while Nick Stevenson of Mixmag chirped “Most amazing news ever .”
As a treat, here’s a therapeutic “dance” video.
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