DCA: Cure for Cancer?

This video tells of DCA (dichloroacetate) as a possible cure for cancer, which is currently under research by scientists in the University of Alberta. I've transcribed it below for readers' convenience. Kindly link back to this post if you wish to reproduce this, alright? Do inform me at the comments box, if you spot any errors. Enjoy!

Video: "Scientists May Have Cancer Cure, But Won't Sell It!" (uploaded to YouTube by ‘ViralClips’)
Transcribed by CY of Why Am I A Gemini? : Words and songs from a jamming Geminian (http://karljam.blogspot.com)

Glenn Beck (G): [On-screen text: THE REAL STORY] ...they're struggling with. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in this country [the United States], leaving over half-a-million families, each and every year, without mothers, fathers or children.

But there's some good news. Canadian research team has come up with DCA. They believe it's a cheap and simple drug that kills almost all cancers. You heard that right! The real story is... [On-screen text: REAL STORY: A CURE FOR CANCER?] you can't have it! Not because it's unsafe, but because -- your blood's gonna shoot out your eyes -- because it doesn't make any money.

[On-screen text: NEW DRUGS = BIG MONEY]

You and I know there's big money to be made when pharmaceutical companies develop new life-saving drugs. But the 'gravy train' doesn't last for long. After investing millions and millions of dollars into research and to the development of a new drug, companies only have a few years to make their money back, plus the profit, before their patent expires, and competing companies can make a 'generic' form of the same drug.

So, back to this Canadian team and DCA. They're working out of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, and scientists have tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body.

They found [On-screen text: DCA COULD BE A MIRACLE] that it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but not healthy cells. Got it? That's revolutionary! This is bordering on a cancer miracle! Tumours in lab rats that were deliberately infected with human cancer, also shrank drastically when they were given DCA. So, where's the problem?

Well, since DCA has no patent, that means it could be made generically from day one. No exclusivity equals no value! (chuckle) You know, I heard that today, and I thought, you know, once in a while, maybe capitalism needs to be reminded of the value of human life.

Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, he is one of the leading researchers working on DCA out of the University of Alberta. [On-screen text: THE CANCER ANSWER?]

Doctor, am I overstating this? Do you believe this is a cure for many cancers?

[On-screen text: EVANGELOS MICHELAKIS, M.D.
Assoc. Prof. of Medicine, Univ. of Alberta]

Dr. Michelakis (DM): I'm not sure I would call it a 'miracle', Glenn. It's a very promising advance, but there have been a lot of miracles in medicine, in lab animals and in test-tubes, that never translate into miracles in actual human beings.

G: Ok now you --

DM: So there are a lot of reasons...

G: Can you, can you --

DM: ...to be optimistic about it.

G: Can you do these studies, and how long will it take?

DM: We're about to start these clinical trials in human beings here at the University of Alberta, and we think we'll be starting somewhere in the next couple of months. It will take several months to complete. The first stage of this trails' to know, at least, that this drug is effective in human beings, as it was in human cells out of the body.

G: Was this drug used for anything else? Is this drug on the market for anything else right now?

DM: It's not in the market and you can, no, you cannot find it in pharmacies. You can buy it in bulk from chemical companies that sell chemicals. [On-screen text: DCA suppresses cancer growth without affecting healthy cells] However it has been used for over 30 years to treat very rare conditions [On-screen text: DCA has regressed human cancer cell growths in animals] of metabolism, usually in children. Universities usually [On-screen text: DCA has been used to treat rare metabolic disorders] buy the drug in bulk. They process it, and then they treat these very, very rare conditions. [On-screen text: Michelakis and his colleagues have tested DCA on human cells] We know that it's relatively well tolerated. There are some, some mild toxicities in these patients, but of course we don't know how patients with cancer will react...

G: OK --

DM: ...to that.

G: OK, so this is something you can buy at the chemical company. There are going to be people who read about this, like I did today. If I had cancer, I gotta tell ya, I'm not waiting the two years for the human trial. I... If this has killed these things, lung and breast and -- what was the other? -- brain cancer, it has killed these things in test tubes and lab rats, what's going to stop somebody who has nothing left to lose from going and finding some of this stuff, and taking it?

DM: That's a very important question and in fact, we've been bombarded with this question. But you gotta keep in mind that it is possible, it might hurt someone. For example, a lot of these patients are already taking cancer medications. And the interactions of this drug, and any drug, with the existing drugs is unpredictable.

G: You --

DM: It could result in worsening than improving. (G scoffs) So these clinical trials are really important to be performed appropriately under the regulation of authorities like FDA or Health Canada.

G: I have to tell ya. While I see your point, I gotta, you know, if I'm dying of cancer, I know I'm going to die anyway, what, I mean, how am I going to get worse than death? You had a hard time getting anybody to pay attention to this because there's no money to be made in this. Why don't the insurance companies get involved and pour money into this? There's a ton of money to be saved by insurance companies. Why isn't the capitalist system working on that front?

DM: That's a very interesting question and you're right, you would expect... I think there's [sic] some laws preventing the insurance company in investing in research, but I'm not a lawyer to tell you that. I think there is [sic] some regulations. It's not that easy to do that. However, the authorities like the University of Alberta and the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, have already committing [sic] and they're helping us, along with the people of Alberta, that've already started donating money to at least make the first step.

G: Alright, Doctor, thank you very much. That is the Real Story tonight. If you'd like to find out about this story or you'd like to tell us about another Real Story of your own, please click on to www.glennbeck.com. Hit that 'Real Story' button. All this... (video ends)

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