[ExI] Burzynski the Movie The Great Cancer Hoax

[The Avantguardian]

----- Original Message ----
> From: Damien Broderick <thespike at satx.rr.com>
> To: Longevity list <grg at lists.ucla.edu>; ExI chat list 
><extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
> Sent: Sun, June 12, 2011 7:13:02 PM
> Subject: [ExI] Burzynski the Movie The Great Cancer Hoax
> 
> This is an intensely interesting (if rather manipulative) video--available for 
>free viewing until tomorrow. I would like to hear the opinions of experts in 
>this forum:

I watched most of the movie and then did some independent investigation into the 
matter. The complete summary of all published case reports and clinical trials 
conducted on Antineoplaston can be found here:

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/antineoplastons/healthprofessional/page5



*Disclaimer- I am not a licensed physician and I am not legally qualified to 
give medical advice to anybody -- not even myself.*

Here are some quick and dirty facts I gleaned from a perusal of study abstracts 
that I separated from the spin: 

There have been 19 clinical trials conducted to date using different 
formulations and doses of Antineoplaston to treat a wide variety of 
cancers. Fourteen of those trials were conducted by Burzynski himself. One was 
conducted by the Mayo Clinic presumably with federal funding. Four others were 
performed by the Kurume University School of Medicine in Japan. Predictably, 
Burzynski's studies all showed significant results as well as low toxicity. The 
Mayo Clinic study was deemed inconclusive by the investigators due 
to insufficient sample size but had several other problems such as 
only enrolling patients with cancers so nasty that all conventional treatments 
had already failed and stopping treatment of 5 out of the 9 patients due to 
"side effects".

The most compelling studies were the Japanese ones both in terms of statistical 
robustness and presumed objectivity. The Kurume study had the largest sample 
size of 42 terminal stage cancer patients, reported only minor side-effects, and 
showed significant efficacy (either complete or partial remission lasting more 
than 1 month) in 32.6% of cases, stable disease (tumor non-progression) lasting 
more than 3 months in 17.4%  of cases, and progressive disease in the rest. The 
mean survival time of patients in remission and non-progressors (approximately 
50% of cases) was 17.52 +/- 3.31 months vs 4.80 +/- 0.65 months for the 
progressors with a statistical significance of p < 0.005. Furthermore since the 
Japanese stood neither to profit from the success of the treatment nor did they 
owe any funding or regulatory obligation to the U.S. government, I tend to find 
their results the most compelling.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8667595?dopt=Abstract


I didn't have time to perform my own statistical analysis of the data but 
my estimate based on a quick read of all the study abstracts was that between 
5%-10% of terminal patients treated with antineoplastin survived for at least 5 
years after starting treatment which, by the grim standards of oncology, is 
actually quite good. FYI remission lasting 5 years is considered a "cure" by 
oncologists, even if the patient relapses and dies right afterwards. So my 
overall assessment of Antineoplaston is that it is neither a "miracle cure" nor 
"quackery". Instead I think that Antineoplastin is an intervention that does 
seem to have a significant effect on many cancers and certainly warrants further 
investigation, Big Pharma's regulatory capture of the FDA notwithstanding. The 
toxicity and side-effects reported in the literature seem preferable to those 
of conventional chemotherapy or radiation treatment. To give perspective, one of 
the most commonly prescribed chemotherapy drugs is carmustine which both 
in chemical structure and mechanism of action approximates mustard gas. Mustard 
gas, if you remember, was considered a WMD of sufficient toxicity to warrant the 
invasion of Iraq but apparently the FDA has approved its use on cancer 
patients.    
  

Stuart LaForge 

"The Supreme Court has ruled that they cannot have a nativity scene in 
Washington, D.C. This wasn't for any religious reasons. They couldn't find three 
wise men and a virgin." - Jay Leno