For October 24, 2003
A FRIENDLY SKEPTIC LOOKS AT POLYMVA, PART TWO
Patient #1. A 75-year-old female with glioblastoma (an aggressive form of brain cancer) presented with history of debulking surgeries and two rounds of radiation. As a last resort her cancer center neurologist placed her on massive, experimental doses of tamoxifen. She then entered an unspecified hospital in Baja California. At the time of admission, she required support on both arms to walk up the short ramp, her memory was impaired and her speech was slurred. Convulsions were being kept under control with dilantin. On the third day after beginning treatment with PolyMVA, we are told, her memory improved and her slurred speech became clearer. "She walked out of the hospital unaided to continue therapy at home," the website continues, and she lived a further six months. Her death, we are told, "is attributable to the side effects of the tamoxifen which she continued to take" before and after PolyMVA. This report strikes me as - let me be generous - uninterpretable. Many patients experience temporary improvements in well being when they begin new regimens. The improvement in memory and speech may or may not have been due to PolyMVA or to anything else she received at this unspecified Baja California clinic. It is also highly unlikely that this woman's death could be attributed to the side effects of tamoxifen. In the long-term, tamoxifen may cause serious side effects, such as a heightened risk of endometrial cancer, but there is no indication that this woman developed that condition, and in the absence of an autopsy report her death cannot be attributed so unequivocally to this standard drug. It is much more likely that she died of her glioblastoma, despite taking various drugs, including PolyMVA. Patient #2. This account is again reproduced from the www.polymvasurvivors.com website: "Glioblastoma patients usually have a dramatic, early response similar to Mr. D. age 66," we are told. "His tumor inactivated his right leg and foot and caused generalized convulsions which were poorly controlled by tegretol, or dilantin. I received a phone call from Mr. D. four days after he began LAPd [i.e. PolyMVA]. He said his paralysis was gone and he could walk outside and water the lawn and ride his stationary bicycle. Eight days after beginning he called again to report that his convulsions were now localized and almost gone." End of anecdote. Who is the person reporting this? We aren't told. And what happened to Mr. D? We don't have any report beyond the first eight days of treatment. Patient #3. "Pain from metastatic breast cancer, to the spine and right hip in CF age 56 required a right hip replacement which gave relief from hip pain, but did not effect [sic] the spine. She started LAPd and within 2 weeks her 'back pain stopped' and she returned to her legal research employment. Most breast cancer patients report at least temporary improvement." Again, no report beyond a scant two weeks. The woman's pain may have returned with a vengeance on day 15, for all we know. No information was supplied on what ultimately happened to this patient. Patients #4 and #5. "Two cases of cancer of esophagus: Both required MS [morphine sulfate, ed.] for pain relief, both were cachectic [wasting away, ed.]. Both were terminal when they started LAPd. Mr. G. age 62 was in a Mexican hospital when he was scheduled to begin the LAPd. LS age 45 took the LAPd for home use. Mr. G died within 6 weeks, but an investigation uncovered the fact hat he was never given the LAPd. He was given Laetril [sic] alone. LS reported increased strength and weight gain and is still living (2 years from starting LAPd)." Obviously, patient #4 should not be included in any best case series, since he didn't receive the drug in question. Patient #5, L.S., is much more interesting, however. Two years survival with stage IV (cachectic) esophageal cancer is very unusual. But we need to know much more about this case before we can express an opinion, let alone draw conclusions about the role of PolyMVA. Patient #6. "Diagnosed in April 1995 a female multiple myeloma patient from Alaska…sent us a letter dated March 1997 at after taking LAPd her blood tests and examinations showed ‘no measurable signs of multiple myeloma carcinoma’ and her doctors said ‘she is in total remission.'" In 2002, this patient reported that she was beginning her seventh year in remission. "I have no signs of any cancer and feel very well. I am very grateful and hope to carry on this way for many years to come." If confirmed, this could be a significant case, since protracted remissions in multiple myeloma are rare. However, readers should be aware that there is a form of the disease called "smoldering myeloma," in which remissions do occur and survival can be lengthy. We would need to verify the diagnosis and particularly to rule out the possibility that patient #6 had this form of the disease before drawing any conclusions about the contribution of PolyMVA. There is also a fairly extensive section of self-described "testimonials" at this site. These are of variable quality. Patients and their loved ones get to tell their own stories, which may be salutary for them. But these anecdotes are sometimes confused and lacking in relevant details. Here is one representative quote from the daughter of a patient: "I lived abroad for many years in a country awash in superstition. I am superstitious, in a universal and spiritual sense and will not venture to put into words, what has transpired. Nor will I make mention of my father's name. Let it suffice to say that…Poly MVA was God's way of intervening." Hard to draw firm conclusions from that! What is conspicuously lacking overall is any genuine scientific support for this treatment. In a recent email Dr Garnett informed me that he intends to initiate clinical trials with PolyMVA in India sometime next year. I look forward to seeing the results when they are published. However, there are already over 14 million journal citations, dating back to the 1950s, listed in PubMed, the National Library of Medicine's encyclopedic medical database. Over 1.5 million of these articles are specifically on the topic of cancer. As a point of reference there are over 4,000 articles on the mineral palladium in biomedicine. How many of these articles are on PolyMVA? Zero. Polydox? Zero. LAPd? Zero. I can find no record of it at all in the medical literature. Dr. Garnett has been researching cancer for 40 years and has focused on PolyMVA for the last dozen or so. He is the author of half a dozen or so scientific papers (see references below). Yet I could find no scientific articles by Dr. Garnett or anyone else on the clinical effects of PolyMVA. The scientific cupboard is bare. I am familiar with all the obstacles that exist for publishing innovative medical work. Indeed, a dozen years ago it was very difficult to get a serious hearing anywhere for innovative cancer treatments. But today that situation has dramatically changed. The US government now spends almost $100 million per year researching alternative medicine. Both the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health have offices whose charge is specifically to examine such treatments. There are half a dozen peer-reviewed journals that are eager to publish findings on non-conventional approaches. Publication in peer-reviewed journals is the accepted meeting ground of science: most genuine scientists try extremely hard to put their research in front of their peers. The conspicuous absence of peer-reviewed research on PolyMVA is therefore inexplicable. If there are really 300 physicians currently using PolyMVA routinely in cancer treatment, as some of the drug's proponents suggest, why has none of them published data on the clinical benefits of the treatment? How could a board-certified physician conclude that the "war on cancer" has been successfully concluded through PolyMVA and yet not explain the basis of that earthshaking conclusion in a reputable medical journal? Even though anecdotal evidence cannot take the place of thorough clinical trials, such evidence is not entirely without value as a tentative indicator of merit. It might, for example, be worthwhile for PolyMVA proponents to carefully sift through the many anecdotes to put together a serious presentation to the Cancer Advisory Panel on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAP-CAM) of the National Institutes of Health. That panel was set up, with great effort, precisely to review claims of benefit from alternative treatments. If there were still sufficient interest after the presentation, this could lay the groundwork for a proper clinical trial. Without even the most basic scientific groundwork, however, the evidence for PolyMVA's effectiveness remains flimsy at best. I would also question that easy assumption that PolyMVA is a "food supplement" and is therefore essentially non-toxic. I am unaware of any reputable source that considers palladium a necessary nutrient. Palladium is widely used as a component of dental amalgam, and has therefore come under scrutiny for its toxic potential. A scientific paper from the Medical College of Georgia School of Dentistry concluded that "there have been recent controversies… over possible adverse biological effects of using palladium in dental alloys." According to the paper, "in an ionic form and at sufficiently high concentrations, palladium has toxic and allergic effects on biological systems…The carcinogenic potential of the palladium ion is still unclear, although there is some evidence that it is capable of acting as a mutagen" (Wataha 1996). A more recent German review concludes: "A major source of health concern is the sensitization risk of Pd [palladium, ed.] as very low doses are sufficient to cause allergic reactions in susceptible individuals. Persons with known nickel allergy may be especially susceptible….Pd salts … may cause primary skin and eye irritations" (Kielhorn 2002). Finally, the cost of PolyMVA is considerable: $330 for an 8 ounce
bottle, according to the www.polymva.com
website. This can add up. The recommended dose for adult human patients
with active cancer is 8 teaspoons per day. At 6 teaspoons to the
fluid ounce, the daily dose is 1.3 ounces. A bottle will therefore
last 6.15 days. If one took this agent for a year one would need
about 60 bottles, which would cost $19,800. Readers with cancer
would be well advised to save their money and to look for more credible
alternatives. --Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D. References:
Sinatra S. Here's why some doctors don't get sick. In: International Council for Health Freedom, Vol. VII, issue 3-4, Winter 2003/Spring.2004. Garnett M and Krishnan CV. Pulsed electrospinning of biopolymers. In Press: May 2002. Garnett M and Remo JL. 200th Meeting of the Electrochemical Society, No. 1132, September 2001. Garnett M and Remo JL. DNA reductase: A synthetic enzyme with opportunistic clinical activity against radiation sickness., International Symposium on Applications of Enzymes in Chemical and Biological Defense, Orlando, May 2001, p. 41. Garnett M and Remo JL. Soluble sensors of telephonic signals. Microfabricated Systems and Mems V, Proceedings Vol. 2000-19, The Electrochemical Society, p. 185, October, 2000. Garnett M. Palladium complexes and methods for using same in the treatment of tumors, U.S. Patent no. 5,679,697, October 21, 1997. Garnett M. Palladium complexes and methods for using same in the treatment of psoriasis, U.S. Patent no. 5,776,973, July 7, 1998. Garnett M. Thaw indicator device, U.S. Patent no. 4,051,804, October 4, 1997. Garnett M. Electrogenetic effect of a synthetic oxygen carrier. Journal of Cell Biology, v.43,42a, November 1969. Garnett M. A laboratory model for heterochromatin. Journal of Cell Biology, v.35,44a, November 1967. Kielhorn J, Melber C, Keller D, Mangelsdorf I. Palladium--a review of exposure and effects to human health. Int J Hyg Environ Health. 2002 Oct;205(6):417-32. Dr. Taylor's license revocation: Wataha JC and Hanks CT.
Biological effects of palladium and risk of using palladium in dental
casting alloys. J Oral Rehabil. 1996 May;23(5):309-20.
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