From the Calgary Sun
January 18, 2007
Drug shrinks tumours
Medical world abuzz over doctor's cancer breakthrough
By BROOKES MERRITT, SUN MEDIA
EDMONTON -- Cancerous tumours can be shrunk without radiation by administering a drug already used safely in humans for decades, says a doctor whose research is creating a major buzz in medical circles.
But because the drug cannot be patented, pharmaceutical companies won't be eager to fund clinical trials to bring it to market, leaving its future in question.
"We've succeeded in reducing tumours with a drug shown to have little side-effects in humans. You could essentially take it as a pill," said University of Alberta researcher Evangelos Michelakis.
The drug is called dichloroacetate, or DCA.
Michelakis, working with several researchers in Edmonton and Ottawa, discovered how DCA can reverse the hallmark weapon of cancer's plague: The sudden ability of abnormal cells to multiply indefinitely, unchecked.
DCA restores a specific function of mitochondria -- the mini power engines that drive cellular activity.
Mitochondria normally cause unhealthy cells to die off, but that function is suppressed in cancer patients.
"In more than 50 years, no one's been able to figure out how to fix mitochondria in cancer patients," said University of Calgary oncology professor Dr. Randy Johnston, who's been studying cancer for 25 years.
"Dr. Michelakis has captured the attention of one of the world's most prestigious medical journals (Cancer Cell), and offers new insight into how cancer is treated."
Finding funding to begin human trials will be hard.
"Because the drug has no patent it will not attract investors," Michelakis said, adding patents are only issued for novel compounds.
DCA has been used for decades to treat rare metabolic disorders in children.