Can we teach the human body how to fight cancer? A leading biotech company, Mountain Valley MD (MVMD), believes it’s absolutely possible. And with promising results in early testing, they’ve got the science squarely on their side.
Last year, according to the World Health Organization, nearly 10 million people around the globe died from cancer, and it’s currently the leading cause of death worldwide. You’d be hard-pressed to find someone whose life hasn’t been touched in some way by the disease. Cancer takes an economic toll, too – about $1.16 trillion USD annually. And yet, a consistently effective treatment is still beyond our reach.
That’s not to say that we haven’t made significant strides. The advent of immunotherapy, for instance, represents a tremendous leap forward in treatment options outside of traditional chemotherapy. Immunotherapy refers to a treatment that stimulates the immune system to fight cancer cells, and is often used when a cancer isn’t responsive to other treatments. Today, we’re able to combine immunotherapies, or partner an immunotherapy with chemotherapy, to combat various types of cancer, often those that are notoriously difficult to treat. Despite these advancements, the overall response rates leave a lot of room for improvement.
Enter Ivermectin. It’s an FDA-approved antiparasitic drug with a proven safety record and numerous uses. And, in MVMD’s estimation, it’s also a potentially powerful adjuvant (science-speak for enhancer) to cancer drugs, like checkpoint inhibitors, commonly used in immunotherapies. In early murine model testing for Triple Negative Breast Cancer, oral Ivermectin combined with a checkpoint inhibitor increased the complete response rate to over 40%, while the checkpoint inhibitor acting alone was only 5%. It’s a great result, and MVMD is running full speed ahead with it.
The next step? To test MVMD’s patented solubilized Ivermectin, Ivectosol™, as an adjuvant to checkpoint inhibitors. Ivermectin has significant potential, but its uses in humans have traditionally been limited by its poor solubility and bioavailability. By drastically increasing its solubility, and in turn, the ability of the human body to effectively absorb and process the drug, MVMD has opened up the possibility of injecting solubilized Ivermectin directly into a tumour. Here’s why that’s a huge deal: In Triple Negative Breast Cancer, for instance, only 20% of tumours are recognized by checkpoint inhibitors. That’s because the tumour cells essentially camouflage themselves, and the immune system doesn’t recognize them as a threat. MVMD’s science is based on the concept that injecting solubilized Ivermectin directly into the tumour will quickly kickstart immunogenic cell death. That means, in the simplest terms, the cancer cells die off in a way that triggers the immune system to recognize them as foreign bodies. Unmasking the cancer cells then allows the immune system to effectively use the checkpoint inhibitors to recognize and destroy any other like cancer cells in the body.
MVMD is so confident in the potential of Ivermectin as a powerful cancer adjuvant that they applied for a patent to protect the novel approach, and are proceeding with three separate pre-clinical trials to test its Ivectosol™ on aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancers like Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Metastatic Melanoma, and Non-Small Cell Lung Carcinoma. It’s a daunting mountain to climb, but one that could lead to the ultimate reward: A world where our bodies can fight cancer – and win.
