The DCA is a promising drug and there's many people working on it, on many kind of tumors.<p>Be aware that this "it's unpatentable" thing is bullshit. You don't patent a drug, you patent the use of the drug for a certain purpose. In fact, Michelakis himself appears to have patented DCA for several cancer forms.
<a href="http://www.google.com/patents?q=Michelakis&btnG=Search+Patents" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/patents?q=Michelakis&btnG=Search+P...</a><p><a href="http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=RErGAAAAEBAJ&dq=Michelakis" rel="nofollow">http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=RErGAAAAEBAJ&dq=M...</a>
The article seems filled with errors about basic biology, so here's the actual research: <a href="http://www.dca.med.ualberta.ca" rel="nofollow">http://www.dca.med.ualberta.ca</a>
The text of the article is poorly written - with a focus too much on conspiracy theory rather than on actual science. The linked article is from 2007, and only reports on preliminary research.<p>There's a reason we have the scientific setup that we do, and it is to filer the noise, and protect the authenticity of the science. If these guys from Alberta are able to come back with good results on human trials, then other labs will independently confirm the result. The fact that drug companies aren't picking up research at a preliminary stage on a drug that won't be profitable shouldn't be surprising, but it also doesn't mean that the research won't go forwards.
scienceblogs had a great piece on this: <a href="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/01/in_which_my_words_will_be_misinterpreted.php" rel="nofollow">http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/01/in_which_my_words_...</a><p>quoting:<p>What is most pernicious about the conspiracy-mongering stories being spread about DCA is that it builds false hope. People with cancer hear about this drug, and they think there's an amazing cure out there that's being withheld from them because of the greed of big pharma.
Yes it is real. You can read the review article here:
<a href="http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v99/n7/full/6604554a.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v99/n7/full/6604554a.html</a><p>The only problem is that most cancers develop mechanisms to block or inactivate apoptosis pathways of which there are several, so DCA will not work in every type of cancer since these apoptosis pathways need to be intact before cancer cells will die. It is never that simple and some scientists tend to oversimplify the story.
A lobby needs to be created to educate the public that each cancer is its own disease, and there can never be a cure for all cancers in one magical formula.
May 12, 2010 - Edmonton, AB - Medical Researchers at the University of Alberta reported today evidence that the orphan generic drug Dichloroacetate (DCA) may hold promise as potential therapy for perhaps the deadliest of all human cancers: a form of brain cancer called glioblastoma.<p><a href="http://www.dca.med.ualberta.ca/Home/Updates/2010-05-12_Update.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://www.dca.med.ualberta.ca/Home/Updates/2010-05-12_Updat...</a>
<a href="http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=5166" rel="nofollow">http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=5166</a><p>This is a great article from the sciencebasedmedicine guys about the state of dichloroacetate as a cancer treatment. A bit long-winded, but totally realistic about the current prospects. The links at the bottom are all great too.
The latest update which was about a year ago at the U of A site listed a 5 person clinical trial that had very modest effects on glioblastomas, only 1 type of cancer.
Source: <a href="http://www.dca.med.ualberta.ca/Home/Updates/2010-05-12_Update.cfm" rel="nofollow">http://www.dca.med.ualberta.ca/Home/Updates/2010-05-12_Updat...</a>
Encouraging, but read this too, particularly the edit at the bottom, along with the link to ualberta.ca dated May 12, 2010:
<a href="http://www.tweaktown.com/news/19694/has_cancer_been_cured_big_pharma_doesn_t_like_that_idea_very_much/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.tweaktown.com/news/19694/has_cancer_been_cured_bi...</a>