I’m especially interested in info on “antineoplastrons”, promoted by “Dr.” Stanislaw Burzynski; and MGN-3, promoted by Dr. Mandooh Ghoneum.
I’m of the mind that both are BS as anti-cancer treatments.
Especially antineoplastrons (the name brings to mind something a bad Hollywood scriptwriter would coin in a B sci-fi film). Burzynski seems like a quack, but he’s gotten a lot of media coverage. My own Web search seems to confirm this, but additional input is welcome.
Ghoneum seems to be a harder nut to debunk, since it appears he was once a real researcher and he has numerous publications in journals going back years. However, he patented MGN-3 in '96 and all his published research since seems to have the sole objective to promote his product. And even his published stuff seems suspect. His claims about MGN-3 refer to ‘published studies’ that are no more than abstracts presented at various meetings. Hell, I had ‘published abstracts’ at meetings as a first year grad student.
The abstracts promoting the effects of MGN-3 appear at meetings about anti-aging, cancer, and AIDS (they all say the same thing–MGN-3 promotes natural killer T-cell activity). This bring up my snake oil observation–Wow! This MGN-3 (of which Ghoneum holds the patent) has anti-aging, cancer, and AIDS properties! To quote Clint Eastwood in the ‘Outlaw Josey Wales’: “How’s it work on stains?”
Does anybody have some good links about this stuff?
No good links but…
My mom was one of Burzynskis patients back in 1979 when he was doing research with interferon (IIRC) as a treatment for various types of cancer. Her cancer (glial blastoma) didn’t respond to the treatments.
It bears mentioning that the type of cancer my mom died from is particularly aggressive and conventional treatments could offer her nothing. From the time she showed her first symptoms of being ill (seizures) to diagnosis was 7 weeks, she was dead less than 13 weeks later after diagnosis.
Burzynski was largely regarded as a quack even then, my uncle had gotten my mother involved with him after reading an article in (I believe) Penthouse regarding his alleged successes with interferon and the subsequent “suppression” of his successes by the medical community.
The creepiest moment I have ever had was watching a 20/20 or something a year or so after she died because they had an segment featuring an interview with Burzynski. A couple minutes or so into the interview, which was by a pool at his compound/clinic, my mom, who had been sunbathing in the background a few yards behind them sat up and looked at the camera. She smiled and walked off camera. Very disturbing.
Commander Fortune–sorry about your mother; my mother also has a very bad cancer (gall bladder) and is undergoing chemo now.
My interest lies in the fact that people are coming up to my father and suggesting these quack alternatives. Dad’s a smart guy, but he doesn’t have a biological science background so he runs these suggestions by me.
Burzynski seems easy to debunk.
Ghoneum says his MGN-3 increases natural killer T-cell activity (maybe true, but polysaccarides have been know to do that); Dad initially seemed hopeful about this. I had to explain that natural killer T-cells attack cells that are infected with pathogens and the problem with cancer is that these cancer cells aren’t infected or foreign–T-cells generally don’t recognize them.
After talking to him, Dad was like “so this isn’t a ‘magic bullet’ cure?” I responded that if it was, don’t you think it would be all over the news? Like the recent tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Everybody has been saying my mother should try that drug. Well, that depends on her specific cancer. If it’s not caused by a renegade tyrosine kinase, that drug won’t help at all.
Unfortunately, these alternative treatments seem to be designed not to cure cancer (because if they did, it would be all over the media), but to separate your money from your wallet. MGN-3 cost like $13 a day, but no insurance company will cover it. Cheaper than chemo, but that adds up, out of pocket.