Download METABLOX: A NEXT GENERATION CANCER THERAPY

METABLOX: A NEXT GENERATION CANCER THERAPY
ABOUT METABLOXTM Metablox is a formulation for
treating metastatic tumor. Metablox
exploits metabolic differences between cancer cells and healthy cells.
By doing so, Metablox preferentially kills cancer cells while leaving
normal cells largely untouched.
Because of the selective killing of
cancer cells, Metablox does not
have typical side effects related to
damaging healthy cells.
Metablox is an experimental
medicine with a great promise.
Most patients who used Metablox
have been enjoying recurrence-free
life. In most cases, the tumor burden
was reduced by 90-95% (hence the
pain, too), and what’s left stopped
growing. In a few cases, tumors
were reduced below the level of
detection. Life returned to normal
during Metablox treatment as the
side effects have been close to none.
These are remarkable improvements
for patients with terminal cancer.
Here is the story of Metablox.
the rate of glycolysis is much faster
in cancer cells. Digging further, he
discovered enzymes that are normally “off” in glycolysis are “on” in
cancer cells. Warburg named his
observation as “Warburg effect.”
THE HISTORY OF CANCER METABOLISM MEDICAL APPLICATION OF WARBURG EFFECT OTTO WARBURG’S NOBEL PRIZE IN 1931
Dr. Warburg was a physician
and a scientist in Germany. Warburg earned his doctor of chemistry
in Berlin in 1906, and doctor of
Medicine in Heidelberg in 1911. He
started his work as a professor at the
Kaiser Wilhelm institute of Biology.
Warburg investigated the metabolism of cancer cells. Warburg
learned that cancer cells grew much
faster than normal cells. He did not
know, however, how the cancer
cells generate the large amount of
cellular energy needed to sustain the
abnormally high rate of growth.
Eventually, Warburg discovered that cancer cells turn on certain
enzymes in the cell to generate
more energy. In normal cells, energy is generated by breaking down
glucose. This process is known as
glycolysis. Glycolysis is usually a
slow process. Warburg noticed that
MEDICAL IMAGING One of the medical applications
of Warburg effect is cancer imaging. To detect cancer cells, a patient
is injected with radioactive glucose.
The cells in the body take up the
injected radioactive glucose molecules. Because of the Warburg effect, cancer cells take up a lot more
radioactive glucose molecules than
normal cells. Observing the different rate of radioactive emissions,
CT or NMR scan distinguishes cancer cells from normal cells.
CURRENT STATE OF ANTI-­‐CANCER DRUG For the most part of 20th century, Warburg effect has been overlooked and ignored as a potential
strategy to cure cancer. Instead,
drug companies extensively focused
on developing anti-cancer drugs that
disrupt DNA replication, which is a
hallmark of rapidly multiplying
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cells. Because cancer cells multiply
rapidly, these drugs were effective
in killing cancer cells. Unfortunately, these drugs also killed normal,
rapidly dividing cells because the
drugs indiscriminatingly attacked
any DNA replication whether it was
for normal cells or for cancer cells.
These drugs cause huge side effects
for killing rapidly dividing normal
cells, e.g., hair cells, gut cells, liver
cells, immune cells, and blood cells.
The outcome was, and has been,
that the battle against cancer is won,
but the battlefield is ravaged beyond
repair. Patient would die because of
the ravaged battlefield, i.e., complications and organ failures arising
from the death of normal cells. Unfortunately, the majority of mainstream chemotherapy drugs are still
DNA replication inhibitors. This is
especially true in generics.
There have been other drugs
targeting specific enzymes that have
gone rogue by genetic mutations.
For example, Gleevac targets a very
specific mutation of a cellular enzyme. These drugs work well for
cancers caused by very specific
mutations. The downside of these
drugs is that cancer cells continue to
mutate, and render these drugs ineffective. Just like a new flu vaccine
is needed every year because of
rapid mutations of flu virus, drugs
that target specific mutations stop
working because the occurrence of
mutations in cancer cells is not a
static affair. Rather, mutations continue on as the cancer cells divide
and change, and new mutations
emerge inevitably.
In late 20th century, drug companies switched to a new strategy,
targeting cancer cells using antibodies. Antibodies specifically trained
to kill only cancer cells reduced the
kill the cancer cells by implosion.1
A Pubmed search of medical literature resulted in more than 800 research papers, reporting on various
effects of shutting down the cancer
metabolic pathways. These observations include laboratory studies,
animal studies, and certain human
clinical trials. There are biotech
startups developing the next generation drugs targeting cancer metabolism.
tumor cells originated from central
nervous system, hematopoietic,
kidney, liver, pancreas, prostate,
skin, testis, lung, breast, colon, thyroid, stomach, and salivary gland. In
human, Metablox have been found
effective in treating cancers of the
lungs (SCLC and NSCLC), breast,
colon, ovary, pancreas, prostate, and
kidney (renal carcinoma). Other
types include sarcomas in various
regions, glioblastoma, and astrocytoma.
METABLOX IS A FORMULATION THAT SPECIFICALLY KILLS CANCER CELLS BY SHUTTING DOWN THE CANCER-­‐SPECIFIC METABOLISM. side effects significantly. These
drugs are, however, extremely expensive to manufacture, and takes
very long time to develop. Because
of the huge upfront development
costs, drug companies have been
reluctant to develop antibody drugs
unless there is a broad market
enough to justify billions of dollars
or more in sales. Antibody drugs
also have caused unforeseen side
effects by triggering host immune
defense. The discovery of unforeseeable side effects will continue to
rise, as modern understanding of
human immune system is still incomplete.
METABLOX ANTI-­‐CANCER DRUG TARGETING CANCER METABOLISM The next generation anti-cancer
drugs take advantage of the Warburg effect. More than a handful of
enzymes specifically associated
with the Warburg effect, that is,
enzymes only turned on in cancer
cells, but not in normal cells, have
been identified. Theoretically, shutting down these enzymes will either
slow the growth of cancer cells, or
WHAT TYPE OF CANCER CAN METABLOX TREAT?
As Metablox targets cancer metabolism, which is common to any
and all forms of cancer, Metablox
can be used for any type of cancer.
In a laboratory test, Metablox killed
Metablox is a formulation that
specifically kills cancer cells by
shutting down the cancer-specific
metabolism. Metablox is administered by intravenous injection. Upon
injection, key ingredients of Metablox are taken up by cancer cells.
These ingredients then home to enzymes necessary to maintain high
level of energy production, and impair them. In response, apoptosis is
triggered in the cancer cells due to
the loss of their energy production
mechanism, leading to cell death.
FAQ
1
Cells have a mechanism, known as
apoptosis, that commit suicide when
something is wrong with them. Disrupting energy supply of a cell is
one of the ways known to trigger
apoptosis.
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WHO WERE THE PATIENTS OPT FOR METABLOX?
As an experimental drug,
Metablox has only been offered to
cancer patients who failed to see
improvements with FDA-approved
drugs. These patients had advanced
metastasis. Thus, treatment followups through imaging were focused
on controlling metastasis in the liver
and large tumors pressing against
vital organs.
WHAT ARE THE SIDE EFFECTS OF METABLOX? The side effects of taking
Metablox are minimal as compared
to traditional anti-cancer drugs. Of
the 16 patients, no serious adverse
reaction was observed. There was
one case of grade 1 anemia, one
case of erythema, and 5 cases of
mild nausea that required no further
treatment. In certain patients with
very large tumor burden, tumor lysis syndrome (TLS) was observed.
TLS is now treated prophylactically
by giving the patient a dose of antiTLS medicine.
Also, 10-12 years is a time some
patients cannot afford.
I AM INTERESTED. WHERE CAN I GET METABLOX? Metablox IS available in jurisdictions where treatment with experimental drugs is allowed either
on a compassionate use doctrine, or
freedom to treat oneself with his/her
own choice without interference
from the government is guaranteed
as basic human rights. Clinics offering Metablox are within 2 hours of
flying from major cities of the U.S.
HOW MANY HAVE TRIED METABLOX SO FAR? About 24 patients so far.
WHAT ARE THE CLINICAL OUTCOMES OF THE PATIENTS WHO HAVE TRIED? We have not documented their
outcomes in a systematic way other
than their survival. More than 90%
of the people have lived and still
living beyond their doctors’ predictions. More importantly, because of
almost nonexistence of side effects,
the patient’s quality of life has been
dramatically improved.
quires clinical trials. Clinical trials
for a cancer drug costs on average
$300-$500 million over 7-9 year
period. We have approached drug
companies and venture capital companies to finance the U.S. clinical
trial. We were turned down because
Metablox is a combination of
known compounds. As such, a patent cannot be secured over its composition. Without a patent, drug
companies and other financing institutions are not willing to invest.
HOW LONG IS THE TREATMENT? A patient goes through 5 infusions per week for three weeks.
After having one or two weeks of
break, the physician will examine
the patient, and repeat the 3-week
cycle up to two more times to a total
of 9 weeks. Once the tumor is resolved, a patient would have a
weeklong treatment every 3 to 6
months.
WHY IS IT NOT AVAILABLE IN THE U.S.? We could offer Metablox in the
U.S. To do so, it would take 10-12
years until we secure the FDA approval. Securing an approval re-
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HOW IS METABLOX ADMINISTERED? Metablox is administered via
intravenously.
CAN I SEE THE CLINICAL RESULTS? Yes. A summary of clinical results is available upon signing of
confidentiality agreement.