“Wake up, something is wrong with me…”
These are the words I frequently woke up to when my wife came home from her 3 week hospital stay. She was treated for a rare cancer called Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP), spending almost a year learning how to live without the organs that were removed and the scarring caused by heated chemotherapy poured into her abdomen during the 16 hour procedure.
As time went on I knew, as long as she could be ok again, I would be OK and I would do anything to secure that feeling, frequently drawing on news articles selling hope with “miracle breakthroughs” whilst studying microbiology in the evenings when she was asleep.
I realize how dumb this must sound but when Bina’s cancer came back, I was so angry and frustrated that no one could tell me how to access the “miracle breakthroughs” I’d read so much about —It’s like they never even existed.
It wasn’t long before I met Adam Alderson, a PMP survivor who defied the odds of survival after becoming the first recipient of an 8 organ multi visceral transplant to save his life. If you’re looking for motivation and inspiration I highly recommend watching his story (here’s the link).
The burden of saving lives is left to the skill and meticulous efforts of cutting edge surgeons who have mastered the complex procedure to prolong survival of patients. This procedure has been mostly the same for 45 years and in the absence of innovation these are the lengths that they must go to in order to save lives – this has to change.
Between July and September in record breaking time we used computational and bioinformatic technology to discover a drug for PMP patients, found and connected with researchers to validate its efficacy in PMP cell lines and formed a scientific collaboration team to share our work with in order to obtain input and critical feedback.
This December, Archie Svetlov our co-founder is in the lab sacrificing his Christmas turkey and time away from his family to re-formulate the lead compound to improve its efficacy in PMP. He will also be carrying out necessary preclinical validation, toxicology studies and dosage strategies required for us to pursue regulatory approvals for its use.
Early indications are positive but its too soon to say for sure how things are going to work out until the preclinical work is completed. Archie is an extremely talented scientist (not to mention an NIH funded researcher) and it fills me with the greatest confidence to have his skills, dedication and “tinker” mindset working on delivering new strategies for rare diseases starting with PMP.
We fully intend to keep you updated on our work which includes an activity log that can be found here (opens in a new window).
One last thing…
As things progress we will be fundraising and forming petitions to push past any legislative roadblocks (should any arise or slow us down). Please consider sharing our story with your friends, family and extended network or subscribing for updates.
On behalf of the nimble, yet determined team at Bina Therapeutics, thank you for taking the time to read our story and engage in our mission.
