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is this true?

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Is Big Pharma carnivorous ? You betcha'. Could they suppress anything as widely demanded as a cure for cancer? That seems a stretch.
 
So I consulted the Oracle... well thats not true. Wikipedia uses a MySQL DBMS... but I digress. Here is the article on DCA. Dichloroacetic acid - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Cancer cells change the way they metabolize oxygen in a way that promotes their survival. In laboratory studies of isolated cancer cells grown in tissue culture, DCA restores the original metabolism, and promotes their self-destruction. This has led to the use of DCA for treating cancer, by individuals experimenting with it themselves, by doctors administering it to patients as a non-approved drug, by scientists testing it in cancer tissue cultures in cell culture and in mice, and in human Phase II studies. DCA has improved certain biochemical parameters, but it has not demonstrated improved survival."

From what I can gather, it is a good trial therapy that looks promising but is still undergoing trials. It doesn't appear to be a cure. On a positive note, it is not licensable as a discovery so pharmaceutical companies can start cranking it out and jump right into price wars threreby dropping the overall cost of the treatment.
"DCA's legal status as a discovery is public domain because it was made or discovered as far back as 1864..."
 
One possible reason this drug is getting zero traction could be related to the fact that this is not a new drug. Fact is any Tom, Dick, or Harry can jog down to his local apothecary and drum up a dose for pennies on the dollar. Unfortunately for major pharmaceutical companies, this means that there's no potential for a patent. And without a patent, no profit, and without a profit motive, no noise. I haven't looked at the data, but outside of the US, word of this research is creating a stir and is bound to draw some special interest and/or University dollars. In the meantime, looks like we flatlanders will have to wait and see if further research will validate the original results.
 
Realize that cancer is not a single disease per se, but rather a kind of incredibly complex disease process with thousands of variants. Alternative cure 'X' may be useful for, say 10 percent of a given population under certain limited circumstances. But using this knowledge in practice can be tricky. For that matter, a certain very small percentage of advanced cancers mysteriously go into remission, and no one knows why.

The big money special interests always bear watching. It's just that, I don't believe some kind of magic bullet for all cancers made in somebody's garage is likely to happen. The best treatments will probably involve complex chemistry. I would love to be wrong about this.
 
Just clicked on the link to dichloroacetic acid. Very interesting. DCA having something to do with inhibiting lactic acid production rings a bell regarding Lance Armstrong's incredible recovery from metastasized testicular cancer. Armstrong's metabolism apparently has a almost freakish
ability to metabolize lactic acid buildup--presumably part of what makes him a world class athlete.

This is armchair speculation. But I still find it interesting.
 
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