New Cancer Treatment

[Pugmum]

There was a show on TV Sunday - called Sunday Night - they discissed the trials of EBC46 taking place. Its a cancer cure made from thh seeds of the Blushwood tree found in the Atherton tablelands. Made by QBiotics.

The cancers they are targetting are close to the skin surface and easily accessible by needle. They inject into the tumour and it stimulates the cancerous convered white cells into action to fight off the cancer. They showed A cat with skin cancer and dogs with tumours ont he leg, face etc. all had no tother treatment available to them. The results were seen in days - shrinkage by half in just days.

Apparebtly EBC46 willbe available to vets in months. Human trails will be soon.

I called about Maggie but they wont look at her type of cancer, cant get to it, and a possibility that the uethra wall would be compromised.

But, if this is something that could help your furry kid, the clinic doing the trials is the Newtown Veterinary clinic (Geelong) 03 5221 5333. The Dr interviewed was Dr Jane Miller, but the said to fax medical records and diagnosis etc to Maria on 03 5224 2632.

Brigitte

[mita]

I saw that. Excellent program with great info.

That's right....they said the treatment by direct injection can only be used (at this stage) for tumours accessible at skin level.

Good on you for posting the info & contact details.

[labsrule]

Yeah it is great news and I posted about this in the News forum on the same night of the program

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=198294

[Everythings Shiny]

I'm not so convinced on this drug after reading a letter to the editor of the Veterinarian Magazine.

I'll try and find it and type it up here

[stormie]

I know one Specialist who was involved in many of the surgeries to remove the tumours on the trial patients that didn't work. He wasn't impressed one bit. Apparently too, many of the patients involved in the trials had to wait until their tumours were more advanced before trialling the drugs. So when it didn't work, the prognosis was much poorer than if the tumours were taking off as soon as they were discovered. Supposedly it's been beaten up by the media to be much better than what it really is?

There is another one that's being trialled which I believe is showing positive results but I'm not sure of the name of it. (Everything's Shiny, I'm pretty sure the letter to the editor was Richard Malik's article? I think he's been using this other one and so far has been impressed)

Edited August 26, 2010 by stormie

[Staranais]

Will be great when the clinical trials are finished & we have the full details, but sounds like a very promising drug for some inoperable cancers.

[Everythings Shiny]

Here it is:

A new cancer treatment in animals (EBC-46) derived from a North QLD rain forest tree was originally promoted in tv programs in Oct 2009 and then again in June 2010 (although no scientific data has been released during that time)

No data regarding this compound has be published in the scientific literature at any time. THe information that the company Ecobiotics (via their subsidiary Qbiotis) has posted on their website claims of efficacy in treating cancers in mice, horses, dogs and cats with only minimal discomfort. The mechanism of action of cancer killing is not clear, but is postulated that direct injection into the tumour may stimulate neutriphils to eradicate cancer. The anecdotal descriptions we have heard from veterinarians that have used EBC-46 vary and include necrosis of the tumor creating and open wound sometimes accompanied by significant pain, and often followed by regrowth of the tumour from the periphery, this implies corrosive activity rather than a specific anticancer mechanism.

although Ecobiotics claims cancer cures in patients with otherwise unmanageable cancer, there is little long-term follow up, little clear information regarding the pets disease status or previous treatments tried, and toxicity has not apparently been assessed in any cohesive manner. the Qbiotics website states there has been a "lack of significant effects or adverse events". However we know of at least one dog with a live tumour that was treated in November 2009 with EBC-46 (under direction from Ecobiotics). although the amount of the drug was less than the recommended dose, the patient died during the injection and could not be revived. This event has not been reported by Ecobiotics in their most recent media release or through their website, although they now list liver cancers as one of the sites to avoid treatment. This case and several other patients we know of with marked toxicity that was reported to Qbiotics, casts not doubt as to the completeness of the company's reporting. The CEO of Ecobiotics was contacted to see if we could help with a properly desigtned clinical trial but this offer was refused.

Whenever a "cure for cancer" arises it raises flags. We feel it is appropriate for veterinarians as highly trained professionals whose first concern is the well-being of our patients and all animals with cancer, to be wary when a research group wants to treat patients without a significant body of toxicity data, and chooses to announce trial "results" in the lay press rather than through the scientific literature. Marketing directly through the lay media is of concern, as we feel it takes advantage of worried pet owners fears and hopes. in addition, there appears to be an effort to avoid the same level of scrutiny just because the patients are animals and not humans. This is doing injustice to the veterinary profession as well as to the pets we care for. Finally there is an implication that current "traditional" cancer treatment is ineffective and associated with unacceptable side effects. Veterinary oncology is currently practices with the highest regard for quality of life, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are all tailored to ensure these treatments are effective and yet provided with minimal side effects in the vast majority of patients. the animals treated with EBC-46 have, according to the Qbiotics website and media releases, been pets that have "untreatable diseases". Some of the patients we know of (including those shown on the website) certainly had the potential to respond to, and in some cases had the potential for cure with, established therapies such as surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy.

PLant derived materials do have potential for cancer treatment; in fact some of the most effective and well-established chemotherapy drugs used in veterinary (as well as human) oncology are derived from plants. However, enormous amounts of careful research and evaluation needs to be done before efficacy can be established. Since the USA National Cancer Institute initiated a screening program for plant-derived antitumour agents in the 1960's, more than 100,000 compounds have been screened but only seven plant derived anticancer drugs have received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for clinical application.

A critical part of the necessary evaluation of a new drug is a carefully designed clinical trial. A rigorous clinical trial is the only way to provide the evidence of safety and efficacy which is required by regulatory authorities for the approval of drugs, and should withstand the process of peer-reviewed for publication in veterinary and medical journals. Treating individual cases without the framework of an appropriate study design can contribute useful early information but it constitutes a pilot study, not a clinical trial. For example, the American Cancer Society evaluates cancer treatment methods by asking three questions:

1) Has the treatment been objectively demonstrated in the peer-reviewed scientific literature to be effective?

2) Has the treatment shown potential for benefit that clearly exceeds the potential for harm?

3) Have objective studies been correctly conducted under appropriate peer review to answer these questions?

Our concern regarding EBC-46 is shared by the Cancer Council of Australia. In June 2010, this group sounded a note of caution on the media releases, saying the company had not yet published its research.

"We have yet to see the results of this research published in a significant journal, where they would be subject ti independent scientific scrutiny, which is useful determining the rigour of the research,"chief executive Ian Olver said in a statement. "...it is far too early to be able to class this as a breakthrough."

EBC-46 has not undergone the testing and scrutiny for saftey and efficacy that is required to enter clinical veterinary practice. Until such time as controlled clinical trials can be performed that ensure that pets are not likely to be harmed by this treatment, we cannot endorse this product. The undersigned veterinarians have had extensive experience in designing and performing clinical trials, both in Australia and overseas, and we strongly urge our fellow veterinarians to wait for complete evaluation of any compound before recommending it for their patients.

Signed Anthony Moore : BV SC, MV Sc: (Oncology) Adjunct Professor, University of Sydney, Director Veterinary Oncology Consultants

Angela Frimberger V MD (Oncology) Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Sydney, Director Veterinary Oncology Consultants.

Rodney Straw BV Sc - Specialist small animal surgeon (oncology), Director of Brisbane Veterinary Specialist Centre, Executive Director of The Australian Animal Cancer Foundation.

Peter Bennett BV Sc (Oncology and Internal Medicine) - Specialist in Veterinary Oncology and Small Animal Internal Medicine - Director Melbourne Veterinary Cancer Care, Senior Fellow Univeristy of Melbourne Adjunct Senior Lecturer Massey University.

Valerie Poirier DV M, (Oncology and Radiation Oncology) Specialist in Veterinary Oncology

Peter Best BV Sc - Specialist in Veterinary Anaesthesia

After a lengthy discussion at our vet practice, until more work is done on this we are not recommending it to anyone... not one of our staff would even contemplate using this in our own animals, let alone recommending it to the general public.

Hope this info is helpful for everyone :D

ETA: This was written very recently, there is no clinical trials in place as of yet

Edited August 26, 2010 by Everythings Shiny

[stormie]

Thanks for that. I was wrong before and the letter to the editor by Richard Malik was actually in response to that one by Antony Moore. It's in the Aug 2010 edition.

He is a bit more open minded about it and mentions he spoke to owners as well as vets who were involved with cases and was impressed by some of the results. He says he is excited about it and thinks its very possible the drug may be useful in certain cases.

But he also says its early days and like Antony and his co writers he is keen to get a better understanding of how the drug works at a cellular and immunological level as well as its effects on other tissues etc.

So it seems its probably too early to know how its all going to pan out and that vets and specialists are all a bit torn over the idea.

[Everythings Shiny]

Yeah, my practice has a couple of vets studying oncology under one of the writers of the letter I posted.

They had a major discussion about it and the main concern about this drug is why the company Qbiotics wont let a clinical trial go ahead... seems a little suspicious to us.

But hopefully something good comes out of this