A capsule, an antibody and an ultrasound ping: Sharjah researchers patent a smarter way to aim chemotherapy

Chemotherapy's oldest problem is aim: the drugs attack fast-growing cells everywhere, not just the tumour. A team at the American University of Sharjah, led by Dr Ghaleb Husseini with Dr Mohammad Al-Sayah and Amal Elsadig, has won its third US patent for a delivery system designed like a guided parcel. Tiny fat bubbles called liposomes carry the medicine; an antibody on their surface steers them to cancer cells; and an ultrasound pulse at the tumour site triggers them to release their cargo exactly there. The new patent uses the antibody cetuximab, which homes in on a protein found on some hard-to-treat triple-negative breast cancers. The work is still at the laboratory stage — an earlier version targeting a different protein is in animal studies, and the team claims no human use yet — but each patent is a step toward chemo that goes where it is sent, and only there.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation