The History of My Idea
I worked for a company that was trying to use magnets to target drugs for cancer. We made tiny particles that could absorb cancer drugs and were also metallic. You could put the particles into someone’s blood vessels, then hold them in a cancer tumor using a giant magnet. This allowed the drug to sit in the tumor and not circulate around the patients’ body. It was a good idea; Chemotherapy drugs are very toxic and it would be nice if they could just stay in a tumor and not kill healthy tissues. There are some publications listed below that describe the detailed science of the process.
The idea seemed to work well and carried through a clinical trial. It was even orphaned by the FDA, meaning, they would allow for a faster review process because the idea was so promising.
The company expanded a bit and held a bigger clinical trial, and the particles stopped working. The company folded. It was thought that there was something going-on between the particles and the cancer drug that was unpredictable chemically.
I moved-on to other projects and mostly forgot about the particles. Later, I became a mother and taught science at a small school.
Thirteen years after the company folded, I was sitting in my school laboratory watching a physics student of mine play with a magnet and some iron filings. I suddenly completely understood what had happened to make the original clinical trial work, and the latter trial fail; it was a “Eureka” moment.
Days later I was at a friend's house, visiting, while our kids played and she showed me Amanda Palmer's TED Talk. I was inspired. I realized I needed to get this information out of my head and into the world. I was the only one who knew it. If I'm right, this could have a huge effect on future cancer treatment therapies.
Inspriation attribution
Amanda Palmer's TED Talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html
Amanda Palmer's Kickstarter Campaign:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandapalmer/amanda-palmer-the-new-record-art-book-and-tour
My Idea
If you play with a magnet and some iron filings in a see-through container, you will notice that the iron aggregates into sharp little pointy spears as you move the magnet close. When you move the magnet away gently, the spears fall back apart into particles. Imagine that the iron particles are inside a blood vessel, inside a tumor, aggregating and falling apart. My idea is that this physical action tears-up the blood vessel, and destroys the tumor.
The evidence for this is that during the original clinical trial with the particles (see history, above), the magnet was held over the patient for a long period of time. No one knew how long would be necessary, so we had the patient stay under the magnet for an hour or more.
Then, some laboratory research made us believe that only a few minutes of “magnet time” was required for the particles to work their way into the tumor and stay there. So, for the trial that did not work, the magnet was only applied for ten minutes.
If the aggregate spears were destroying the tumors, these results make sense. It also makes sense that in the successful trial, tumors that were removed from patients after treatment appeared “torn up” inside. In the successful trial (in some cases), patients with tumors that were too large to remove shrank and were removed surgically, saving the patients’ lives.
(An unedited animation of the science portion of the video is posted under the "Updates" tab)
What the Money is For
The money for this campaign will go for an initial laboratory investigation of my idea. My hope is that the science will be strong enough to publish the results, and perhaps to interest additional scientists and investigators. I need a minimum level of funding to initiate pre-clinical trials of the concept at two certified labs. I will also need to purchase a rare earth magnet with the strength of the one used in the old clinical trials, uniform sized iron particles, and a few other small items and chemicals. The testing will be in vitro (taking place in a test tube, culture dish, or elsewhere outside a living organism) which means, of course, no living organism will be used or harmed.
Why do we only need $11k? Isn't medical research astronomically expensive?
This is just the first step, the proof of concept if you will. If the initial testing proves correct, we'll move on to toxicology testing, assay developement, tox batch production, and so on and and that's where costs go up. This project gets the ball rolling. Anyone who signs up now will continue to be in the loop on the news of further testing, patent progress, future research funding and investment updates.
Why You Should Help
If I am correct, this technology could potentially help anyone with a solid tumor cancer (that is nearly all cancers except leukemia and lymphoma).
What You Get
We've listed some incentives on the side. Mostly we're trying to make this fun for people who aren't "Sciency" but when it comes down to it, everyone has been touched by cancer. We'll get stickers, t-shirts, if we go over our goal we'll come up with some more stretch-goal, fun, goodies. But mostly this is to help move us toward a possible, better, treatment of cancer.
FAQ
People have sent in great private questions! I'm going to answer them in public.
Do you have access to a lab facility?
I have three possible labs for in-vitro and organ modeling of the idea; I will get results from two. These are experienced contract pre-clinical labs where I (or friends) have done work. In-vitro and preclinical results would allow me to take it back to physicians who used the 2001 system that has some similarities.
What is your background and relevant experience?
My background is in Biology, Tox, and most heavily in Project Management for big pharma. I’ve taken several drugs from idea through Phase III. My most relevant experience for this idea is from design and validation of preclinical testing and assays of a similar product.
Although I have a $150,000 certification in making drug products commercial, my best experience for this was having my hands in the lab at the very beginning of an idea (see publications).
I would (obviously) not act as the PI; I have dual PIs in Tox and Physics interested, and a doctor in mind.
Do you have a patent?
I filed a patent the night I had the idea; it does not infringe on earlier patents as my mechanism is completely different from the earlier proposal. The budget allows for completion of the patent process.
Why use crowd funding?
The normal financial process at this stage is to seek investors who would like to profit from the drug. The other normal thing is to keep it a complete secret until you have something wonderful to tell the press.
The problem is this. Once you bring-in someone trying to profit from the drug, you are on a timeline of financial milestones that lead to an IPO or commercialization. Science does not often fit that timeline. This idea is a classic example.
When we initially tested the carrier product in the lab, the results did not support the mechanism that was proposed. Even at that early stage, people were fired for suggesting we take some more time and investigate. After the original successful clinical trial, no one was interested in anything but sticking-to the financial timeline of the project. So, the second trial failed, as do many trials. I believe this paradigm is holding back technology in medicine.
That is why I’m making an effort to keep this grassroots, transparent, and non-profit. I have determined that cancer, and other diseases, are simply too important to entrust to the current system. I hope we can set a precedent for funding the actual scientific process.
Reference Articles
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Journal of Controlled Release
Volume 74, Issues 1–3, 6 July 2001, Pages 335–340
Proceeding of the International Symposium on Tumor Targeted Delivery Systems![]()
Adsorption and desorption of chemotherapeutic drugs from a magnetically targeted carrier (MTC)
S. Rudge , C. Peterson, C. Vessely, J. Koda, S. Stevens, L. Catterall![]()
Biomaterials 21 (2000) 1411}1420
Preparation, characterization, and performance of magnetic
iron}carbon composite microparticles for chemotherapy
S.R. Rudge,*, T.L. Kurtz, C.R. Vessely, L.G. Catterall, D.L. Williamson"
!FeRx Incorporated, 18200 W. Hwy 72, Arvada, CO 80007, USA
"Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO 80401, USA
Received 22 July 1999; accepted 4 October 1999
Music attribution:
Cancer ribbon color choices:
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