Perth researchers are exploring new ways to treat diseases, including cancer, without side effects.

Scientists at Phylogica, the commercial arm of the Telethon Kids Institute, have been working for ‘a number of years’ to attack diseased cells, while leaving healthy cells relatively unscathed.

‘We’re pioneering a new landscape in how we’re looking to treat diseases such as cancer,’ chief executive Dr Richard Hopkins told 6PR’s Chris Ilsley.

‘You find with a lot of cancer patients they suffer more from the toxicity of the drug than they do from the cancer itself for a time. That’s because the drug is targeting all of the good cells as well as the bad ones – there’s lots and lots of collateral damage.

‘We’re finding ways to cross the cell membrane and deliver these really potent cargoes against these targets which have never been accessible before, so we can reconsider how we’re going to treat disease on that basis.

‘There’s still a lot of work for us to do to get to the end point that we can consider having made a bonefide drug, but the indicators we’re generating, at least at the early stages, are looking to us like it’s a very exciting proposition.’

Listen to the full interview below.

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