Scientists Cure Cancer, But No One Takes Notice

[Guybrush]

I wanted to share this with you. It seems cancer research has taken a giant leap forward, but that this research is having a hard time reaching patients and people in general.

Please read : Scientists Cure Cancer, But No One Takes Notice

Another article : The dichloroacetate (DCA) cancer kerfuffle


Basically, there is a drug (dichloroacetate) which may help cure many forms of cancer. It works by reactivating mitochondria, organelles that are functioning in normal cells but not in cancer cells. These organelles are able to kill off their cells by a process called apoptosis and this medicine helps the cancer cell mitochondrias do that.

The "problem" is that dichloroacetate is an old drug which was discovered back in the 1800s and has been used to treat some rare metabolic disorders. It's old enough to be public domain and is unpatentable. No major pharmaceutical companies can patent a sellable DCA drug. You would think that would be a good thing as it means anyone should be able to use it relatively cheaply, but as these companies sell expensive anti-cancer medicines, that means they do not want to support the development of drugs like this which will compete against their own products. So, I was hoping to help spread a little awareness about this.

You know me as a sceptic and I am sceptical in regards to this as well. I don't believe it's the cure which will end all cancer and I think DCA's potential as a cancer drug may so far have been a little exaggerated. But even if it will only help with certain forms of cancer, it still does look promising and as long as it can help, that's another step forwards .. right?

This drug is not available to people with cancer in Norway, but if it garners some attention, universities and so on can get enough donations so that they can afford to start clinical trials etc. Help spread the word.