Cancer drug
I recently read an article about cancer research in Canada led by Evangelos Michelakis of the University of Alberta. He has shown that a simple drug called dichloroacetate (DCA) that has been used for years to treat people with mitochondrial disease could cure most types of cancer. When Michelakis tested the drug on cancer cells in culture, they died. When he gave it to rats with human tumors, the tumors shrank. It does not appear to affect normal cells, has no side effects, and should work on all cancers. However, since it is an old drug and extremely inexpensive to produce, it cannot be patented. That's because pharmaceutical companies are not likely to fund costly clinical trials with DCA because they won't be able to make a big profit. Many drugs for diseases haven't been produced for this reason, especially those that affect poor people in developing countries. It's a shame that pharmaceutical companies have so much power and are able to profit at the expense of our health and our lives. Michelakis is trying to get private funding for clinical trials, but the drug companies will probably scurry to find patentable compounds with a similar action to DCA and if any of these reach the market, they will be grossly overpriced. I think it would be an outrageous scandal to have such a cheap alternative with such amazing potential not given a chance simply because it won't turn a big enough profit for the drug companies.
Sharlene White
Colorado Springs
This letter has not been edited.
Sharlene White is right on target with her observations. And if Americans will wake up, they will realize that all these fundraisers to help fight cancer are themselves a separate cottage industry. Hundreds of millions of dollars are donated to help fight cancer every year, which funds thousands of jobs, and people should realize that because of this, cancer will never be cured. The money and profit is in the research, not in the cure. The Cancer cures already found are actually being shelved by the pharmaceutical companies so many thousands of researchers and fund raisers can keep their jobs.
Posted by Jim Lee on January 24, 2007 11:34 AMBoth of you are right on. It always amazes me how quick people are to attack "BIg Oil" while "Big Drugs" are almost entirely ignored. Pharmaceutical companies are a far more appropriate image of "evil corporations", as they bury research which shows that their product might be harmful and use their "intellectual property rights" to prevent other companies from developing generic versions of drugs that could save thousands of live in other parts of the world if only they didnt cost 400$ a dose. We need an outside agency to be a watchdog on the pharmaceutical industry, as the FDA has shown that it is not willing to regulate these cmpanies, instead chosing only to read the part of its mandate for existence that gives the FDA the job of promoting the food and drug industries.
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