A cure for cancer

Are you ready to have your mind blown?

A researcher at the University of Alberta is looking into a potential, harmless cure for cancer. It sounds exciting because the cure doesn't attack healthy cells so the side effects are minimal, if any. It's also exciting because it would be cheap. The drug is already on the market and used for certain metabolism illnesses so, it's safety is already known.

The molecule is called dichloroacetate (DCA) and "causes regression in several cancers, including lung, breast, and brain tumors."

"Another encouraging thing about DCA is that, being so small, it is easily absorbed in the body, and, after oral intake, it can reach areas in the body that other drugs cannot, making it possible to treat brain cancers, for example.


"Also, because DCA has been used in both healthy people and sick patients with mitochondrial diseases, researchers already know that it is a relatively non-toxic molecule that can be immediately tested patients with cancer."

Now here's the mind-blowing part.

While there is government funding in place from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Canada Research Chairs program, and the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research, big pharma is unlikely to provide the big bucks because it can't patent a drug that's already out there and because it stands to loose billions in other treatments and anti-nausea drugs.

Private funding is being sought.

If you'd like to find out more, check out the UofA website here. It's not the prettiest website you've ever seen, but if you scroll down, you'll find a link to media interviews where you can access news articles and video clips.

Colleen