Targeting cancer cells

A small Washington County company is working toward what could be a breakthrough: a drug that kills only cancer cells. Maybe Hugh McTavish wasn't so tough after all. Seven years ago, doctors told McTavish he needed chemotherapy to treat his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. McTavish, then a 40-year old patent attorney, was young and fit, so he asked for a higher dose. The doctor smiled and politely declined. Good thing, too; after one treatment, McTavish was sick and exhausted. "I was kind of a wuss about it," he recalled. Hoping to avoid surgery and even more nausea, McTavish underwent a new treatment that combined insulin and chemotherapy. The therapy's success inspired McTavish, also a biochemist with a doctoral degree, to explore ways of taking the sting out of cancer drugs. The result is IGF Oncology, a startup in the Washington... [read full story]                    

powered by