Zelenirstat cancer pill made in Alberta shows promising early results [Video]

Imagine being able to treat cancer by taking one pill a day. Right now, a research team at the University of Alberta is trialing just that.

Professor Luc Berthiaume has been working to find a cure for cancer for decades.

“I came here to find a new way to kill cancer cells with minimized side effects,” Berthiaume said of joining the U of A.

Years ago, he had an idea to treat cancer in an unconventional way. His idea even got him laughed at while attending graduate school at the Université de Sherbrooke in Quebec.

But now, clinical trials are proving his theory by attacking mitochondria in cells.

“It inhibits the cell signalling inside cells that tells cells to grow aberrantly without stopping. They grow, grow, grow,” Berthiaume explained.

“In addition to inhibiting the growth, our drug suffocates the cells and starves them and this effect is more preponderant in the cancer cells, rather than …