The drug, dubbed GNX-8, can “target and terminate” colorectal cancer cells without damaging normal human cells, because colorectal cancer cells carry a specific kind of antigen and because the drug employs a human antibody cultivated in vitro to locate the antigen and thus kill the cancer cells precisely, the officials explained.

During experiments on rodents,the researchers injected colorectal cancer cells into two groups of mice and gave the antibodies only to one group after the cells grew to a weight of 100 milligrams. After 30 days, the group under treatment carried nearly no cancer cells, while the mice in the other group had cancer cells with an average weight of 1,600 milligrams.

In separate in vitro experiments, GlycoNex researchers found that the density of the antibody can affect the activity of human colorectal cancer cells, with higher concentrations of antibodies correlating with lower survival rates for cancer cells, according to the officials. “At a concentration of 100 percent, the cell number was reduced almost to zero,” they added.

Furthermore, in a preparation test before human testing, the research fellows extracted colorectal cancer cell samples from 183 patients and applied the antibody to the cells. The antibody successfully targeted and terminated the cancer cells in 94 of the samples, which translates into a possible cure rate of 51.4 percent in humans — better than that of any other similar medication on the market, they said.

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