UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA. Magnetic Drugs made from gold, platinum and iron. They can be magnetically directed to the specific organ or part of the body that is affected by cancer. This is a better alternative to the use of chemotherapy since the magnetic drugs only target the tumor with cancer cells without damaging healthy cells near the affected organ.

Dr. Nial Wheate, collaborators in Scotland and a team of scientists from the Faculty of Pharmacy developed this new anti-cancer drug. It has an iron oxide as little as 5 nanometers in size. This is like 1/1000th the width of a human hair. The iron oxide core is coated with a layer of gold before the cisplatin which is a platinum drug that changed the treatment of testicular cancer. Spaghetti-like strings of polymer are attached to the gold coating.

Typical drugs are quite difficult to manage since nobody knows where exactly it can go. The magnetic drug with its iron core can be moved with the use of a magnet. In this case, it can be moved to the desired cancerous tumor using magnetic fields. On the other hand, a potent magnet can be implanted into a tumor. The magnetic drug can be drawn into the cancer cells.

This innovation can immensely reduce the brutal and excruciating side-effects that are usually associated with chemotherapy like nausea, hair loss, increase risk of infection, vomiting and low red blood cells. Also, it can possibly treat a wide range of cancers that are not treatable with traditional platinum drugs.