New cancer treatment comes from saliva of short-tailed shrew

A Sackville, N.B., pharmaceutical company says it has developed a new treatment for certain types of cancer that would avoid the harsh side-effects of chemotherapy.

Socrimed Biopharma Inc. biochemist Jack Stewart discovered anti-cancer properties in the saliva of the northern short-tailed shrew while testing its ability to ease pain.

“This is really key, when all you’ve been given is maintenance and time. This is huge for me and my family,” cancer patient Marlene MacPherson said.

“Anything new that can minimize what people are going through, I’m on board.”

Stewart had learned shrews could immobilize insects with their saliva and, after further research, discovered paralytic matter in the animal’s venom.

Not only could the soricidin peptide treat pain without addiction, Stewart found, but it could also help diagnose ovarian, breast and prostate cancer in the early stages, kill cancer cells and shrink tumours.

“The animal paralyzes its prey and the compound it uses to do that is an anti-cancer agent,” Stewart said.

Socrimed has just begun testing the treatment on humans at Hamilton’s Juravinski Cancer Centre.

The company says it could be available to the public in three to five years.

For more information, visit the Socrimed website.

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