they cured cancer?

[prometheus the supremo]

environment.newscientist....news_rss20


www.medicalnewstoday.com/...d=rssfeeds

 

[prometheus the supremo]

it's called dichloroacetate.


Miracle Cancer Drug: 'Shrinks Tumors, Costs $2, Can't Get Funding'

January 18, 2007 8:52 a.m. EST

Danielle Godard - All Headline News Staff Writer

Edmonton, AB (AHN) - It is expected there would be no problems securing funding to explore a drug that could shrink cancerous tumors and has no side-effects in humans, but University of Alberta researcher Evangelos Michelakis has hit a stalemate with the private sector who would normally fund such a venture.

Michelakis' drug is none other than dichloroacetate (DCA), a drug which cannot be patented and costs pennies to make.

It's no wonder he can't secure the $400-600 million needed to conduct human trials with the medicine - the drug doesn't have the potential to make enough money.

Michelakis told reporters they will be applying to public agencies for funding, as pharmaceuticals are reluctant to pick up the drug.

At roughly $2 a dose, there isn't much chance to make a billion on the cancer treatment over the long term.

According to research on DCA, formerly used to fight metabolic disease in children, the drug apparently revitalizes damaged mitochondria in cancer cells, effectively triggering cell death and shrinking the cells.

"One of the really exciting things about this compound is that it might be able to treat many different forms of cancer," explained Michelakis.

 

[ganjavih]

they cured cancer?

No. Though it's interesting news, a lot of things have been shown to shrink tumours in the past. We'll see if it actually cures cancer with further research.

 

[prometheus the supremo]

i'd say it's a breakthrough at the way cancer is understood, the ability to target just the cancer, etc.

did you read the first link thoroughly?

We'll see if it actually cures cancer with further research.

this is the problem, no drug company will pay for the research because there is no money to be made since the drug already exists and there is no patent. if a cure isn't more profitable than the status quo. there ain't no cure happening. there is a whole industry dependant on cancer treatment where billions of dollars have been invested.

the virtual silence on this recent canadian discovery does seem kind of odd.

 

[ganjavih]

i'd say it's a breakthrough at the way cancer is understood, the ability to target just the cancer, etc.

It's been done... viruses specific for cancer cells, photoactivated drugs that target cancer cells, telomerase inhibitors, etc. Again, the research is needed to see if it will actually decrease cancer mortality in humans.

It's true that no drug company will be interested in this but because it's cheap and plentiful, a lot of small independent research groups will have the opportunity to study it. I'm sure plenty of researchers will be jumping on this.

 

[Bogtrotter]

"It's true that no drug company will be interested in this but because it's cheap and plentiful"

Sad. I bet there will be large companies jumping all over the possibility of caffeinated donats.

 

[jack2dear]

I cant stand the drug companies -they should sell carrots or something.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

this news made its way on to CNN...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ZckvOHlUg