Medullary thyroid cancer is one of the rarer forms of thyroid cancer, but unlike most other thyroid cancers, it doesn't take up radioiodine. This means that one of the key weapons we often use to attack thyroid cancer is useless against medullary thyroid tumours.
The search for new drugs that can target medullary thyroid cancer is on-going.
Here's a new approach that is coming to light. It's a long way off being ready for use, but it's encouraging to see progress, particularly using an approach that is a bit different.
Some of the current drugs target some of the biochemical machinery inside the cells, whereas this approach aims to attach a radioactive molecule to something that sticks to or gets taken up by the medullary thyroid cancer cell.
Whilst it's perhaps unlikely that any drug will be 100% effective, having a range of different drugs or different strategies might work well together.
The search for new drugs that can target medullary thyroid cancer is on-going.
Here's a new approach that is coming to light. It's a long way off being ready for use, but it's encouraging to see progress, particularly using an approach that is a bit different.
Some of the current drugs target some of the biochemical machinery inside the cells, whereas this approach aims to attach a radioactive molecule to something that sticks to or gets taken up by the medullary thyroid cancer cell.
Whilst it's perhaps unlikely that any drug will be 100% effective, having a range of different drugs or different strategies might work well together.