Researchers are exploring the possibility of redesigning the illicit recreational drug ecstasy to treat blood cancers.
The researchers found that compounds similar to ecstasy – or MDMA as it is known scientifically – kill cell-lines derived from blood cancers such as lymphoma, myeloma and leukaemia.
The MDMA analogues (compounds similar to ecstasy), have been modified to eliminate the psychoactivity seen in ecstasy. At the same time, their potency against cancer cells has been boosted 100-fold.
Read more at The University of Western Australia