Dichloroacetate results, DCA Discord and side effects

We already have an inkling that alleviating human suffering may not be the primary consideration of the health system. With so much at stake, there may be very little heard of this promising drug for a very long time, unless the public demands otherwise. DCA (Dichloroacetate) has the potential to shake up the cancer industry. As its apparent curative effects become more widely known, cancer patients will likely demand access to its promise. Will those patients become mired in an ethical and regulatory debate as their lives tick away?

Besides being potentially dangerous to patients unregulated use of DCA could threaten the prospects of carrying out a clinical trial. That doesn't concern me, says Dr Khan. Prescribing DCA (Dichloroacetate) means, that we are helping the scientific community and helping patients learn what are the side effects and the effects of it being used on cancer.

It's all perfectly legal, it's fine with Health Canada, and patients are fully informed of all the risks. Dr. Kahn has now treated or are currently treating a total of 15 patients with DCA. Four have shown significant improvements, the others have either died or seen no improvement. One of those four patients, a 65-year-old man diagnosed with pleural Mesothelioma that has metastasized to the abdomen and the lymph nodes, has seen a lymph node tumour shrink from 6.0x4.2cm to 5.5x3.6cm after four days of high-dose — 45mg/kg per day — DCA therapy. The patient, however, has already been put on DCA twice before and both times had to stop treatment due to side effects. The three other patients suffering from bone, lung and ovarian cancer respectively have all seen improvements.