But a year later, Dr. Judah Folkman and his work remain bound to the lab and out of the limelight. It was the combination of those two drugs that reportedly cured cancer in mice.
Angiogenesis is the formation of blood vessels.
The anti-angiogenesis compounds can block development of microscopic blood vessels and cut off the tumor's lifeline. The hope is that by preventing angiogenesis, cancerous tumors will lose their ability to grow and spread. At the Angiogenesis Foundation in Boston, telephone operators have been busy linking doctors and patients to this expanding area of cancer research. Thalidomide tested on cancer patients While the two drugs from Folkman's lab have yet to make it to patients' bedsides, nearly two dozen anti-angiogenic drugs are being tried in people with cancer. One of those drugs is thalidomide , a drug best known for causing tragic birth defects 40 years ago when doctors in some countries prescribed if for nausea in early pregnancy.