CDU researcher Nazim Nassar finds cannabis extract combats melanoma

A Darwin researcher has found a cannabis extract that can trick a melanoma cell into ‘killing itself’, stopping the cancerous growths.

A practising pharmacist and pharmacologist, CDU's Dr Nazim Nassar specialises in cancer cell biology, pharmacology, drug delivery systems, and drug disposition and dynamics. Picture: Adnan Reza

A Darwin researcher has found a cannabis extract can be used to manipulate melanoma into “killing itself”.

Charles Darwin University pharmaceutical lecturer Nazim Nassar co-authored an in-vitro study that delved into the stigmatised benefits of cannabinoid PHEC-66.

Dr Nassar said the extract would bind to melanoma cells and prompt a “programmed cell death”.

He said the delivery method still needed to be honed before the extract would be ready for clinical trials.

“Intensive research into its potential for killing melanoma cells is only the start as we investigate how this knowledge can be applied to treating different types of cancers,” Dr Nassar said.

“We need to understand cannabis extracts as much as possible, especially their potential to function as anti-cancer agents,” he said.

“If we know how they react to cancer cells, particularly in the cause of cell death, we can refine treatment techniques to be more specific, responsive and effective”.