The idea is that the albumin actually results in the drug getting deeper into tumor cells.
Abraxane instead coats the drug molecules in albumin, one of the main proteins in egg white.
FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.
Human Genome Sciences is developing a drug, Albuferon, a combination of the human protein albumin and interferon.
Another, related idea, is that albumin is one of the main foods for growing tumors, Von Hoff says.
FORBES: Celgene's Abraxane Extends Life By 1.8 Months In Advanced Pancreatic Cancer
But Soon-Shiong says his drug is more effective than Taxol, precisely because of a quirk in the albumin coat.
FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.
Although electrospun bovine serum albumin does not actually break up into droplets, the resulting threads have been so short and irregular as to be useless.
Human Genome Sciences (nasdaq: HGSI - news - people ) is developing a drug, Albuferon, a combination of the human protein albumin and interferon.
Soon-Shiong argues that when a cell starts making Sparc, suggesting it's about to spread, it also starts sucking in albumin-soaked Abraxane, which, he says, will kill the tumor.
FORBES: Patrick Soon-Shiong and one of cancer's biggest riddles.
Not only are these threads and mats readily accepted by the body, but the albumin of which they are composed has glue-like properties, which helps to stick torn tissues together.
The result, as they recently reported in Biomacromolecules, is that they can spin bovine serum albumin into long, even fibres that are perfect for creating both suture threads and thick mats similar to conventional wound dressings, but on a small scale.
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