Glenn Beck on CNN - re: Cancer Treatment- Oops wrong Forum

[Ann]

So sorry...just realized that I posted this in the wrong forum.

I had recorded this but just got around to watching last night. This is really interesting to me.

Be sure and link on to all the articles.

http://www.glennbeck.com/realstory/02-08-07.shtml

[Ann]

Now, from a public tragedy, let`s turn to something much more personal. I want you to imagine for a second that you`ve been diagnosed with cancer. That`s a reality 50 million Americans are struggling with. Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in this country, 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: You can`t have it, not because it`s unsafe, but because -- you`re blood`s going to shoot out of your eyes -- because it doesn`t make any money.

You and I know there`s big money to be made when pharmaceutical companies develop new, lifesaving drugs. But the gravy doesn`t last for long. After investing millions and millions of dollars in research and to the development of a new drug, companies only have a few years to make their money back, plus a 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 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. Tumors 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 can be made generically from day one. No exclusivity equals no value. 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. Doctor, am I overstating this? Do you believe this is a cure for many cancers?

DR. EVANGELOS MICHELAKIS, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA: 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. So there are a lot of reasons to be optimistic about it.

BECK: Can you do these studies? And how long will it take?

MICHELAKIS: We are 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 these trials, to know at least this drug is effective in human beings as it was in human cells out of the body.

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

MICHELAKIS: It`s not in the market, and you cannot find it in pharmacies. You can buy it in bulk from chemical companies that sell chemicals. However, it has been used for over 30 years to treat very rare conditions of metabolism, usually in children. Universities usually buy the drug in bulk, they process it, and then they treat these very rare conditions. We know that it`s relatively well-tolerated. There are some toxicities in these patients. But, of course, we don`t know how patients with cancer will react to that.

BECK: OK. So this is something you buy at a chemical company. There are going to be people who read about this, like I did today. If I had cancer, I`ve got to tell you, I`m not waiting the two years for the human trial. If this has killed these things, lung, and breast, and, what was the other, brain cancer, if it`s killed these things in test tubes and in 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?

MICHELAKIS: That`s a very important question. And, in fact, we`ve been bombarded with this question. But you`ve got to 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 and could result in worsening than improvement. So these clinical trials are really important to be performed appropriately and under the regulation of authorities like FDA or Health Canada.

BECK: I have to tell you, while I see your point, you know, if I`m dying of cancer, and I know I`m going to die anyway, I mean, how am I going to get worst 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?

MICHELAKIS: It`s a very interesting question, and you`re right. You would expect -- I think there are some laws preventing the insurance company in investing in research, but I`m not a lawyer to tell you, but I think there is some regulation. 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 and they`re helping us along with the people of Alberta that already started donating money to at least make the first step.

BECK: All right. Doctor, thank you very much. That is "The Real Story" tonight. If you`d like to find out about this story or if you`d like to tell us about another real story of your own, please click onto www.glennbeck.com, hit that "Real Story" button. All this information and so much there is there at glennbeck.com.