Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a compound said to be more than 1,200 times more specific in killing certain kinds of cancer cell than currently available drugs.

The new compound puts a novel twist on the common anti-malarial drug artemisinin, which is derived from the sweet wormwood plant (Artemisia annua L). The scientists attached a chemical homing device to artemisinin that targets the drug selectively to cancer cells, sparing healthy cells.

The challenge faced by cancer drug designers is that cancer cells develop from normal cells, this means that most ways of poisoning cancer cells also kill healthy cells. Most available chemotherapies are very toxic, destroying one normal cell for every five to 10 cancer cells killed, which is why the side effects of chemotherapy are so devastating.

The compound developed by Professor Tomikazu Saski and his collegues, kills 12,000 cancer cells for every healthy cell, meaning it could be turned into a drug with minimal side effects. A cancer drug with low side effects would be more effective than currently available drugs, since it could be safely taken in higher amounts.

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