Fungus Drug Zaps Cancer in Study

A powerful new cancer drug has been developed from a fungus discovered by accident, Reuters reports. The drug, called lodamin, is dramatically effective against a range of cancers and works by starving tumors of blood, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology. Mice infected with cancer cells were nearly cancer free within days.

"When I looked at the livers of the mice, the treated group was almost clean. In the control group you couldn't recognize the livers—they were a mass of tumors," said the lead researcher. "I never expected such a strong effect on these aggressive tumor models." (More cancer stories.)