Chemo drug made 20,000 times stronger in breakthrough study

Technology Nov 04, 2025

Big news from Northwestern University: scientists have made a classic chemo drug, 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu), a whopping 20,000 times stronger by turning it into a tiny sphere called an SNA.
This new form zeroes in on cancer cells while leaving healthy ones alone, and early tests in animals with leukemia showed no side effects at all.

If things keep going well, this could make chemo much safer

The study, led by Chad A Mirkin and published in ACS Nano, solved old problems with how the drug dissolves and gets absorbed.
Next up: testing on bigger animals before moving to human trials.
If things keep going well, this could make chemo much safer and more targeted—not just for cancer but possibly other diseases too.