Dicholoracetate (DCA) received much media attention in 2007 when Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta reported that it dramatically shrank tumours across a broad spectrum of cancers in mice. The media stir had patients clamouring for the drug before it passed the traditional trials. Michelakis’ warning (amongst others) against taking the drug before the trials fell on deaf ears with a spate of online sites springing up selling the cheap, relatively simple, and generally well tolerated substance.
There was a big problem with DCA which had nothing to do with its pharmacology; It wasn’t patentable. To bring a drug to market, it costs a pharmaceutical company in the neighbourhood of a billion dollars which means that a watertight patent is required to ensure that the company receives return on investment. As such, the drug was largely ignored by the mainstream pharmaceutical market.
Meanwhile Michelakis called upon private investors and the Government of Canada to contribute towards a limited phase II trial which would demonstrate that DCA works similarly in humans as it does in mice. The trial succeeded thus, but didn’t produce any stellar demonstrations of its efficacy because in the end, there were only 5 patients left in the trial.
Other doctors took a different approach. It turns out that DCA is already approved for human use in a rare condition called Congenital Lactic Acidosis. This allowed physicians such as Dr. Akbar Khan of Medicor Cancer Centres (http://www.medicorcancer.com/) to prescribe the drug for an “off-label” use in cancer.
Medicor amassed reams of anecdotal evidence of DCA’s efficacy and published their results on the web. These results report that DCA demonstrated at 60% response rate in their patients. It is important to note that this 60% was in a population of very sick patients many of whom had gone the route of traditional chemotherapy with no results. Also of note the term ‘response’ is defined as a reduction in tumour size, markers, improved counts, and reduction in pain.
Since this original publication of results, the doctors and naturopaths at Medicor have been trying various combinations of DCA along with other agents. It would seem that DCA works best as an adjuvant therapy alongside radiation, surgery, traditional chemotherapy or other non-chemo therapy agents such as Avemar:
http://www.martincwiner.com/dca-and-avemar-a-theoretical-protocol-for-cancer/
Recently Medicor released a journal paper demonstrating an impressive result. DCA in conjunction with radiation led to a long term (5 year) remission in a cancer (Renal squamous cell carcinoma (“RSCC”)) which was previously considered untreatable and incurable in the field.
[Note to reader: The use of the term ‘cure’ is verboten in argot of cancer research – a telling statement unto itself. For the lay reader, this patient was ‘cured’.]
From the paper:
Renal squamous cell carcinoma is a rare form of renal cancer which is considered incurable
once metastases develop. Prognosis is poor and average survival of advanced stage disease is
typically in the range of several months, despite all available conventional therapies.
Full Paper:
http://www.martincwiner.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Khan-DCA-mRSCC-CR.pdf
In conclusion there is a palpable reticence among the media to report any further findings about DCA. They seem to be experiencing post publishing regret for ‘crying wolf’ in the case of DCA. You can find evidence for this in a recent CBC article which bemoans the media’s ‘reckless’ reporting of the discovery:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/05/28/cancer-drugs-experiments-crowe.html
The media seems unable to realize that the DCA won’t reach the state of passing the clinical trials they demand due to a fundamental flaw in profit driven model of medical research. Hopefully the continued efforts of doctors and researchers such as this paper will cause the media to re-examine their hesitancy.
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For more about DCA please visit:
www.martincwiner.com/dca and sign a petition to have DCA research funded if you are moved to do so.
If you would like to see some legislative changes that would allow pharmaceutical companies to research non-patentable drugs by replacing patents by a government granted exclusive right of production.
http://www.martincwiner.com/a-legislative-pill-to-cure-the-ills-of-medical-research/
http://www.martincwiner.com/treating-the-diseases-of-medical-research/
Just wondering if Stephen Harper has been made aware of DCA.
I doubt it. The Prime Ministers science advisers are all mainstream scientists who by association are proxies for Big Pharma.
FYI Martin
DCA will be patented in a new targeted form. Some southern USA University patented this new delivery form of DCA, that is supposed to be 300 times more effective than ordinary DCA. Unfortunately google has already scrubbed the link. Whose making their moves on the patent? If you’re really curious why the medical community is so screwed up read, Harvard-educated researcher, Eustace Mullins book, ‘Murder by Injection’. I was in such shock after reading that book, I researched it myself and found out what he said was true.
I know there are a couple of non-cytotoxic immunotherapy drugs that look very promising, ABT199 that is like DCA a general anti-cancer type, thats being rushed through in the UK as it killed a couple of people in initial trials do to tumor lysis in the USA. Its going to cost 150k a year for life. I looked into the chemistry and initially thought it was fissionable. Apparently your body can build up a resistance to it but the side effects are much less than standard chemo although chemically it has to be at least a moderate carcinogen. If you like biochemistry you have to look up that drug, its beyond wild.
Ibrutinib is the only (Cll-B) drug that seems highly effective and is non-cytotoxic, and is close to a natural substance the chinese use to treat CLL. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibrutinib. It too is supposed to debut at 150k a year this year and you’re on it for life. Mainly MDs have gotten the drug in trails for the last 3 years. Allogenic Stem cell bone marrow transplants are only 200k a in Europe and the cost will be 100k in five years. In the USA if you can get this transplant it cost $ 750k a year and only a couple places perform it, and I have observed only MDs in general seem to be able to get it or celebrities, etc.
You might look into Sodium Selenite therapy for cancer on pubmed.org. It looks safe and very powerful. I think you would enjoy reading “Healing Cancer” by Drs. Pauling and Hoffer.
I aslo found William Cho’s Book on Materia Medica for various cancer to be useful. The Chinese and Indians are rapidly advancing the 5000 year old TCM into being evidenced based. In india the active ingredient in neem leaf has been synthesized and is flying through trials such as they say no woman in India will die of breast cancer in three years. Still you wonder if big pharma will buy them out. Google’s been really scrubbing the links I had to that.
DCA made it through phase 1 trial in the USA (toxicity). I think the Chemo guys are anxious to use it. See pubmed.org.
One technology I really like is High Frequency Ultrasound radiation therapy for tumors, which only the UK has and to a lesser extent proton beam therapy for brain cancer (90 % ) effective only available in Germany.
Thank you for your website. I’m praying you will get through this forest of lie the medical establishment has established. I met recently MD who had never heard of epigenetics or orthomolecular medicine before and claimed they were ‘naturopathic’ , although Harvard and UCSF (probably the best research MD school in the world) started to offer an elective course in orthomolecular medicine a couple of years back.
I was thinking of liposomally encapsulating DCA to increase its bioavailability and possibly reduce the side effects. If that’s their patent, then their out of luck. Anyone with a ‘cell smasher” (ultrasonic device) some soy-lecithin and DCA can produce their product. I’d love to know the ‘patent’.