Unpatented medical research

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Here's an eye-opener.

Someone tried a very simple off-the-shelf chemical and got what might be a huge consequence. Who can tell, it needs trials before it can become a treatment.

No drug company will touch it because they can't profit from it if it's effective.

It'll be a bombshell if it does what it appears it might.

http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=8153

Scientists and doctors have used DCA for decades to treat children with inborn errors of metabolism due to mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondria, the energy producing units in cells, have been connected with cancer since the 1930s, when researchers first noticed that these organelles dysfunction when cancer is present.

Until recently, researchers believed that cancer-affected mitochondria are permanently damaged and that this damage is the result, not the cause, of the cancer. But Michelakis, a cardiologist, questioned this belief and began testing DCA, which activates a critical mitochondrial enzyme, as a way to "revive" cancer-affected mitochondria. The results astounded him.

[...]

Also, because DCA has been used in both healthy people and sick patients with mitochondrial diseases, researchers already know that it is a relatively non-toxic molecule that can be immediately tested in patients with cancer.

Furthermore, the DCA compound is not patented or owned by any pharmaceutical company, and, therefore, would likely be an inexpensive drug to administer, Michelakis added.

However, as DCA is not patented, Michelakis is concerned that it may be difficult to find funding from private investors to test DCA in clinical trials.Go on, read the rest on the link. It's quite exciting.

[chonsigirl]

It is a very interesting link. You mean if they don't make any money on it, the big drug companies don't care about the possibilities? The university will do well with their research, it looks like they have the funding for continued research.

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I'm not sure how easy a single university finds setting up human trials.

The New Scientist has picked up on the story:It sounds almost too good to be true: a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers by switching off their “immortality”. The drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), has already been used for years to treat rare metabolic disorders and so is known to be relatively safe.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns? ... news_rss20

Given the way they worded it, I'm not surprised that they've "received an unprecedented amount of interest in this story from readers".

[foofoo stripper]

I think that was a very interesting article.