Scientist Who Helped Develop Cure for Ovarian Cancer Donates All Profits to Charity

Mandy Froelich, Truth Theory
Waking Times

Meet Professor Nicola Curtin, a scientist presently being hailed as a hero after she donated all of the profits from a drug developed to cure ovarian cancer to charity. The 65-year-old worked as part of a team for 30 years at Newcastle University to develop the breakthrough treatment.

  • The approved medication is Rubraca, a cancer drug used to treat those with the specific BRCA gene. It’s also known as the “Angelina Jolie” gene, after the actress who possesses it, reports The Independent. The gene significantly increases the risk of ovarian and breast cancer and Rubraca works by enabling cancerous cells to repair their own DNA by killing tumor cells. At the same time, healthy tissue is left relatively intact and unaffected.

    help people who are at a disadvantage through no fault of their own,” she said.

     

    “Young carers have quite a rough time, they miss out on opportunities at school because they’re busy looking after a sibling or a parent. They need a help up — so do refugees, so do all sorts of people. 

     

    “I just don’t believe that talent is restricted to white middle class people,” she said.

     

    She added: “I’m a professor, I’m married to an engineer. We both struggle to spend what we earn, to be honest. We’ve got pretty modest lifestyles. I’m not a great one for gadgets because I don’t understand how to work them.”

    Comparing her payment to a lottery win, she concluded:

    “I don’t think any scientist is driven by monetary considerations. What we’re driven by, largely, is finding things out. And the fact that we’ve hit gold with this drug is largely down to luck. There’s been a lot of hard work by a lot of people, but that’s true of many projects that don’t reach fruition in the same way. I could easily have been one of these people.”

  • About the Author

    Mandy Froelich is an RHN, plant-based chef, journalist, Reiki master therapist, world traveler and enthusiast of everything to do with animal rights, sustainability, cannabis and conscious living. She share healthy recipes on my blog Life in Bloom.

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