A new study has found that the medications included in Ecstasy pills can kill cancerous cells found in leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. Scientists are still saying they are far away from an actual cure, but this revelation is very good for their research.
Ecstasy is known to kill some cancer cells, but scientists have increased its effectiveness 100-fold, they said in Investigational New Drugs journal. Their early study showed all leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma cells could be killed in a test tube, but any treatment would be a decade away. A charity said the findings were a “significant step forward”.
In 2006, a research team at the University of Birmingham showed that ecstasy and anti-depressants such as Prozac had the potential to stop cancers growing. The problem was that it needed doses so high they would have been fatal if given to people.
