The Mexican Who Is Seeking to Give Cancer Patients New Hope News Nation | |
go to original December 30, 2021 |
Can you imagine what it would be like to control cancer in the same way that chronic diseases such as diabetes are managed and have a higher quality of life despite living with a tumor? That is the dream of Pedro Lichtinger, a Mexican who wants to give patients an opportunity to lead a more fulfilling life.
This entrepreneur is an electromechanical engineer, graduated from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), but four years ago he founded Starton Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup that developed a transdermal implant that gives continuous medicine to cancer patients to increase its effectiveness and reduce its side effects.
"We had a vision of continuously giving the patient a drug, at low levels, drop by drop, to transform that drug into a secondary drug. The reason is very simple. Every three hours, 50% of the amount of medicine that is taken is metabolized and leaves the patient’s body. That means that you have to take a lot of drugs to stay effective for as long as possible. The high level at the beginning would have side effects and as you go to the second 12 hours of each day, there is no longer enough medicine," said Pedro in an interview.
For example, Revlimid is the most effective drug for myeloma or bone marrow cancer. Currently patients under a protocol of this drug have to consume orally every 24 hours. However, as the entrepreneur explains, at 2:00 p.m. there is no detectable drug in the body.
How does the Lichtinger technology work? The Starton Therapeutics patch gives continuous microdoses of the Revlimid drug, preventing the drug from losing its effectiveness after 12 hours and generating side effects such as gastrointestinal problems.
In preclinical trials, the Starton Therapeutics patch was successfully tested in mice. As explained by the entrepreneur, a group of animals did not receive the drug with its technology and showed a growth of 29 times in the implanted tumors. On the other hand, another group of rodents received Revlimid orally and showed a 5-fold growth of the tumors. Finally, the mice that followed the Lichtinger implant medical protocol saw their implanted tumors shrink 80-fold. Starton Therapeutics is about to begin human trials to validate its results.
A Very Personal Mission
Pedro Lichtinger is not just any rookie who one day decided to cure cancer. He studied engineering at UNAM and later went on to study for a graduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania at the Wharton School of Business. From there he entered the pharmaceutical industry and his career led him to be President of Europe of Global Primary Care for Pfizer.
Read the rest at News Nation
Related: Cancer Deaths Rose to 10 Million Worldwide in 2019 (Medical Xpress)
Related: Cancer Charity Appeals for Support as Covid Restrictions Make Fundraising Challenging (Independent)
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