THE CHALLENGE
——Patient Circumstances Limit Potential Viable Therapies
Patients afflicted with tumors and cancers are in need of urgent, active intervention in order to have the best possibilities for treatment success and a favorable outcome. The majority of such patients often present with additional underlying conditions which complicate therapeutic decision-making and which may exacerbate cancer therapy’s side effects or toxicities.
Similarly, elderly patients, those who are immunocompromised, and treatment refractory patients present complications including substantially weakened constitutions.
These conditions many times limit the potentially viable therapies available for these patients due to tolerability, safety, and toxicity concerns.
In addition, for those patients who are able to initiate certain treatment regimens, they may be unable to complete all cycles of therapy due to a variety of local and systemic toxicities.
Moreover, for patients with non-symptomatic cancers such as prostate, breast, colon cancer among other types, doctors and patients alike avoid using otherwise highly effective therapies because of the side effects that are oftentimes worse than the disease at the stage of initial detection. Due to delayed treatment, early-stage cancers have the room to develop into far more severe, life threatening diseases.
THE ANSWER
——Revolutionary Delivery System for Best Treatment Outcome
The Asian Fund for Cancer Research Limited (AFCR) aims for all cancer patients to have the best possibilities for treatment success and a favorable outcome. AFCR is supporting a novel delivery system platform that dramatically improves the tolerability and efficacy of many small drugs and immunotherapeutics in complex laboratory models of solid tumors and blood cancers.
The innovative platform focuses on the chemical synthesis of inactive drugs called ‘pro-drugs’ that once in tumor sites become ‘active drugs’ capable of killing cancer cells. A chemical shell surrounds the drug shielding it as it traverses throughout the body. When the complex reaches tumor sites, certain signals found only in cancer cells trigger the release of the active drug.
Without the signals in healthy tissue, Pro-drugs are not released as active drugs, making treatments tolerable without toxicities.
Immunotherapies, targeted therapies, and other cancer treatments packaged as pro-drugs demonstrate superior effects in complex cancer models than standard treatments. The drug delivery platform can deliver combinations of drugs, and promising results show greater efficacy in cancer models than when administered via currently used methods.
THE IMPACT
——Overcoming Limited Activity and Low Tolerability of Leading Treatments
Many cancer patients in dire need of treatment have additional complications that limit receiving the standard of care or new leading therapies because of toxic side effects or safety concerns. Other patients who begin treatments become compliant and discontinue treatment due to local and systemic toxicities. Delayed treatment for patients with early-stage cancers can mean the tumor can develop into a far more severe, life threatening disease.
With this innovative delivery platform of pro-drugs, highly active treatments can be delivered to tumors that are more tolerable for patients and easily administered.
AFCR believes and supports this high impact platform to deliver effective and safe treatments to many cancer patients, that otherwise would not be an option. Patients can be provided a wider variety of accessible and effective therapeutic options for earlier intervention with — a substantial potential to save their life.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
——You Can Bring Hope of Life-Saving Cancer Care
Your support of AFCR will enable scientists to develop this novel, safe, and effective approach to deliver numerous leading treatments to cancer patients. When you support AFCR, you’re funding a vision: one in which patients in Asia and throughout the world can better tolerate today’s and next-generation treatments that can save their lives.
There is no better way for you to help make this happen than to support the Asian Fund for Cancer Research. With your donation, you are saving lives.
