Scientists May have a new/old drug for Cancer -- Where's the News?

There is currently no patent on the drug, I would like to hear more about this as well, so if any readers here have anything to add, please do. BD

This is one of those stories with a better headline than near-term promise. In January 2007 researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton announced they had found a new use for an already known drug, dichloroacetate (DCA), for the treatment of cancer. The drug has been shown in rats and cells to cause cancer to literally self-destruct. Like any new drug, or use for an existing drug, before DCA can be used for humans it has to go through clinical trials. DCA has been approved for clinical trials (more information on website above).

UPDATE March 15, 2007
The University of Alberta Discovery

DCA is an odorless, colorless, inexpensive, relatively non-toxic, small molecule. And researchers at the University of Alberta believe it may soon be used as an effective treatment for many forms of cancer.

Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, a professor at the U of A Department of Medicine, has shown that dichloroacetate (DCA) causes regression in several cancers, including lung, breast, and brain tumors.

Michelakis and his colleagues, including post-doctoral fellow Dr. Sebastien Bonnet, have published the results of their research in the journal Cancer Cell.

Scientists and doctors have used DCA for decades to treat children with inborn errors of metabolism due to mitochondrial diseases. Mitochondria, the energy producing units in cells, have been connected with cancer since the 1930s, when researchers first noticed that these organelles dysfunction when cancer is present.