Groundbreaking cancer drug, inspired by 9-year-old girl, holds exciting potential

American researchers have developed a new drug for cancer patients named AOH1996. This drug offers new fresh promises as it “appears to annihilate all solid tumours”, said the experts in preclinical research. The new drug has been named after Anna Olivia Healey, a nine-year-old girl who lost her life in 2005 due to neuroblastoma, a rare type of cancer that affects children. Anna was born in 1996, hence the name AOH1996. The phase 1 clinical trial of the drug will be carried out at a hospital in California called City of Hope.

Linda Malkas, professor in the Department of Molecular Diagnostics and Experimental Therapeutics said when asked about naming the drug, “I knew I wanted to do something special for that little girl.” She even met the family of Anna before she passed away. Anna’s father asked Linda if there is anything she can do to research more about neuroblastoma and immediately 25,000 dollars said Linda. She added at that moment her life changed forever.

Neuroblastoma starts in the early stages of nerve cells and is usually found in an embryo or a foetus according to the American Cancer Society. The research read that AOH1996 was created after two decades of work, to target PCNA that helps cancerous tumours to thrive in its mutated form. “PCNA is uniquely altered in cancer cells, and this allowed us to make a drug that targeted only the form of PCNA in cancer cells while not touching normal cells,” said Dr Linda Malkas.

AOH1996 was seen as very efficient in killing cancer cells in multiple cancer cell lines. This gives a new hope that the drug can possibly be used to treat brain, breast, prostate, skin, lung, and all other types of cancer