Australian researchers have tested a miracle drug that they say “melts cancer cells away”, hailing it as a breakthrough for cancer patients worldwide. The drug targets a specific protein that enables cancer to survive. During a Melbourne-based trial, researchers tested 116 patients over four years and discovered that the drug Venetoclax significantly reduces cancer blood cells. RT.com reports: Positive results were seen in 79 percent of cases involving patients suffering from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Some patients who had previously undergone treatment were left as good as new after agreeing to the new pill trials. This is indeed historic news, as it marks the first trial of a medicine that is the result of three decades of research. “Here we are a bit under 30 years later in collaboration with WEHI and pharmaceutical companies here and in the US having proved that’s achievable,” head of haemotology, Professor John Seymour, told the Sydney Morning Herald. “This is a completely new class of drugs and there is no other drug or medicine previously available that has had the ability to inhibit this BCL-2 protein,” he said, adding that the drug’s benefits also spread to other forms of cancer and leukemia than those tested. [...]