JP Errico
Earlier this year, two small cancer research companies merged: one public, the other private. The public company, Kintara had just published negative results in a clinical trial, which predictably turned the pre-revenue biotech into a financial zombie, unable to raise capital. It was a shame because Kintara had other promising programs … but this isn’t their story. Rather, it’s the tale of the private company, now called TuHura Biosciences, and the brilliant idea that their founder plucked from ancient history to create what may actually be the cure for cancer.
Do I have your attention?
The full story requires a quick journey through the history of cancer treatment, beginning nearly five thousand years ago in the Egyptian court of the very first physician … ever. I’m speaking, of course, of Imhotep, who lived so long ago that, today, we’re closer to Julius Caesar than he was! Amazingly, surviving papyrus writings describe Imhotep inducing infections in cancer patients to activate their immune systems to treat tumors. All signs are … it worked!
Fast forwarding some 3,500 years, we meet Peregrine, an Italian priest. Church records (admittedly, not exactly electronic medical charts) indicate that Peregrine suffered with an aggressive tumor in his leg, which had burst through his skin. In extreme pain, Peregrine faced amputation as his only option. Legend has it Peregrine prayed fervently, fell into a deep dream state in which Jesus touched his leg, and woke to his leg healed. The Catholic Church proclaimed it miraculous and promptly canonized him Saint Peregrine. Medical historians, being a bit more skeptical, speculate that an infection (a common complication of tumors breaching the skin) triggered an immune-based tumor regression.
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