4 ms·
They don't know DCA doesn't work that well because they are not spending money on R&D. I agree they can get a use patent on DCA, as a matter of fact the resear
by jimmyvanhalen 15y ago
They don't know DCA doesn't work that well because they are not spending money on R&D.
I agree they can get a use patent on DCA, as a matter of fact the researcher from University of Alberta already has a use patent on DCA as a cure for cancer.
interesting info on BG-12. thanks.
- refurb 15y agoBig drug companies are CONSTANTLY exploring new areas, trust me, they looked into DCA and found it wanting. I can't personally attest to the amount of R&D dollars spent by pharma on R&D, but it has been EXTENSIVELY studied, just checked out pubmed (gov't funded research). http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=dichloroacetate http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=dichloroacetate If DCA were an effective agent, they would have handed the U of A a handsome check for that use patent. They didn't, so what does that tell you?
- jimmyvanhalen 15y agoHundreds of millions of dollars and years of clinical trials are needed to prove if DCA is effective or not. You can't just say "trust me, they looked into DCA and found it wanting". Looked at it how? Have they done years of clinical trials? did they spend millions in R&D on this?
- refurb 15y agoThere have been small clinical trials of DCA conducted already. That data is out. They were not compelling enough to warrant the type of investment you are talking about (multi-year clinical trials). That's not to say it may not be found effective for some types of cancers in the future. But what it does tell us is that the lack of interest in spending more money on r&d is not some conspiracy by pharma because they can't make money on it, rather, it's because the data just hasn't been that impressive so far.
- kamjam 15y agoI have a question. There are loads of cancer charities, such as Cancer Research UK, . Does donating to these make any difference in progressing the research for a cure/treatement or does it not make any serious dent compared to the big pharmas?
- polyfractal 15y agoYeah, it does. But mostly because big pharma's actual "research" is pretty slim. Most basic research is done by university professors and their labs, which are then sold, licensed or simply picked up by big pharma. Basically, big pharma doesn't have much time or money to spend on basic research since it has to run clinical trials and make money.