In the lab, it's killed tumor cells from a broad range of cancer, including leukemia, lung, breast, colon, ovarian, renal, prostate, melanoma, stomach, head and neck. It's almost a twofer. Researchers think the drug can treat so many cancers because it fixes a defect common to most malignant tumors. Normal, healthy cells will die at an appropriate time, but cancer cells are tenacious. They grow until they consume all an organism's vital energy.
Scientists suspect that bryostatin works by driving long-living cancer cells to commit suicide.
He's already started to work with two pharmaceutical companies to test his synthetic bryostatin in clinical trials.