Buy & Sell Bulgaria Insight Newsletter

Dear Partners, Investors, Friends,

Today, April 22, 2009, Eurolink Investment Group made a substantial donation to the University of Alberta - Canada, Department of Medicine for the DCA Research on cancer treatment. We invite all of you to join us on this very important and crucial for the humanity health cause for we believe in the sacred value of human life and the right of better and happier living and are sure you share this fundamental belief of ours completely.

Make your own donations for the DCA Research. Save a human life!

Information on the DCA

Source: Internet

DCA,Dichloroacetic acid, is a chemical compound, an acid, and an analogue of acetic acid in which two of the three hydrogen atoms of the methyl group have been replaced by chlorine atoms. The salts and esters of dichloroacetic acid are called dichloroacetates.

DCA does not occur in nature. It is a trace product of the chlorination of drinking water and is produced by the metabolism of various chlorine-containing drugs or chemicals. It is typically prepared by the reduction of trichloroacetic acid.

Owing to the highly corrosive action of the acid, only the salts of dichloroacetic acid are used therapeutically, including its sodium and potassium salts, sodium dichloroacetate and potassium dichloroacetate.

Cancer applications

Cancer cells generally use glycolysis rather than respiration (oxidative phosphorylation) for energy (the Warburg effect), as a result of hypoxia that exists in tumors and damaged mitochondria. Usually dangerously damaged cells kill themselves via apoptosis, a mechanism of self-destruction that involves mitochondria, but this mechanism fails in cancer cells. According to the Warburg hypothesis of cancer growth, cancer is caused by the metabolic changes in mitochondria, although it is now known that cancer is caused by mutations in the genome of the cells.

A study published in January 2007 by researchers at the University of Alberta, testing DCA on in vitro cancer cell lines and a rat model, found that DCA restored mitochondrial function, thus restoring apoptosis, killing cancer cells in vitro, and shrinking the tumors in the rats.

These results received extensive media attention, beginning with an article in New Scientist titled “Cheap, ‘safe’ drug kills most cancers”. Subsequently, the American Cancer Society and other medical organizations have received a large volume of public interest and questions regarding DCA. Reports have since pointed out that although the study results are promising, no formal clinical trials in humans with cancer have yet been conducted, emphasizing the need for caution in interpreting the preliminary results.

DCA has been used historically to treat patients with lactic acidosis, and therefore could arguably enter phase 2 trials in patients with cancer.

DCA is non-patentable as a compound, though a patent has been filed for its use in cancer treatment. Research by Dr. Evangelos Michelakis has received no support from the pharmaceutical industry. Concerns have been raised that without strong intellectual property protection, the financial incentive for pharmaceutical industry interest is reduced, and therefore clinical trials of DCA may not be funded. However, other sources of funding exist; previous studies of DCA have been funded by government organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and by private charities (e.g. the Muscular Dystrophy Association). Recognizing anticipated funding challenges, Dr Michelakis’s lab took the unorthodox step of directly soliciting online donations to fund the research. After 6 months, his lab had raised over $800,000, enough to fund a small Clinical Phase 2 study. Dr. Michelakis and Dr. Archer have applied for a patent on the use of DCA in the treatment of cancer.

On 24 September 2007, the Department of Medicine of Alberta University reported that after the trial funding was secured, both the Alberta local ethics committee and Health Canada approved the first DCA Clinical Trial in Cancer. This initial trial will be relatively small (enrollment- up to 50 patients in the following 18 months). The patients will originate from the Edmonton area and be available for scheduled assessments for the duration of the trial.

The promise of DCA as a cheap, effective and safe treatment for cancer generated a great deal of public interest. Many people turned to self-medication.

Through donations on this web page https://www.xact.ualberta.ca/giveonline/ and the University of Alberta will able to expand their basic science efforts as well as initiate and run two clinical trials in Edmonton. In collaboration with the Cross Cancer Institute and the Alberta Cancer Board, they are running clinical trials in patients with solid tumours that have failed standard therapies as well as in patients with malignant brain tumours. The objectives of these trials is to determine the safety of DCA as a novel therapy for cancer. The Medical Department of the University of Alberta is trying to determine the optimal dose and to monitor potential adverse effects, such as drug interactions and toxicities. This is necessary to do before embarking on more definitive trials to test the effectiveness of this drug in the treatment of cancer. They have enrolled more than half of our target numbers of patients in these trials and are gaining invaluable experience. Both the progress and the preliminary results are promising, although the detailed outcomes of these trials will be published in medical journals, after their completion.