AN HERBAL MIRACLE DRUG?TRADITIONAL CHINESE HERB OFFERS CURE FOR MALARIA AND POSSIBLY CANCER

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AN HERBAL MIRACLE DRUG?

TRADITIONAL CHINESE HERB OFFERS CURE FOR MALARIA AND POSSIBLY CANCER

 

 

BY KATHLEEN B. DEOUL

 

What if there was a disease that killed between 1.5 and 2.7 million people a

year, including at least one million children that could be easily treated with

a simple herbal extract that had negligible side affects? What if had been known

for decades that this cheap, well-tolerated cure was available, but its use was

blocked by institutions such as the World Health Organization and UNICEF - the

very ones charged with improving global health? What if this disease were

beginning to spread from the underdeveloped world to Europe and the United

States?

 

Would someone be held accountable for the needless deaths and growing threat?

 

Apparently not, because that is exactly what has happened with Malaria - but

that's only half of the story.

 

THE SCOURGE OF MALARIA

 

Malaria is one of the triumvirate of diseases that has devastated the developing

world. Along with AIDS and Tuberculosis, it has reached pandemic proportions in

Asia and Africa with some 120 million clinical cases reported annually. Although

the vast majority of Malaria deaths occur in Africa, at lease 40% of the World's

population has been exposed to the parasite. Indeed, it is estimated that 300

million people carry the parasite. This compares with around 40 million AIDS

carriers and is exceeded only by Tuberculosis which may be carried by as much as

one-third of the world's population.

 

What is particularly disturbing about Malaria, however, is that over the last

century every time a new drug has been developed to combat it, the parasite has

adapted and developed a resistance. In the 1950s quinine-based drugs such as

Chloraquine and Primaquine proved highly effective in combating Malaria, but

today, anywhere from 50% to 90% of new cases are proving resistant.

 

Over the past fifteen years, the older quinine-based drugs were replaced as the

treatment of choice by Lariam (Mefloquine), a drug developed by the United

States Army for soldiers serving in Vietnam. Lariam was first produced at the

Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in 1963. Licensed to Swiss pharmaceutical

giant Hoffman LaRoche, it was approved for general use in May of 1989. Each

year, thousands of civilians traveling abroad as well as U.S. military and Peace

Corps personnel take Lariam to protect them against Malaria.

 

PROBLEMS WITH LARIAM

 

However, like their predecessors, drugs such as Lariam are now also losing their

effectiveness. Moreover, serious side effects have been associated with Lariam,

including extreme neuropsychiatric disorders. These disorders are suspected of

sparking a series of murders at Ft. Bragg, N.C. by soldiers returning from

Afghanistan where they were administered the drug.

 

Concern over the possible neuropsychiatric side effects of Lariam caused the FDA

to require a change to the product's label in 2002 that reads in part:

 

" Mefloquine may cause psychiatric symptoms in a number of patients ranging from

anxiety, paranoia and depression to hallucinations and psychotic behavior. On

occasions these symptoms have been reported to continue long after mefloquine

has been stopped. Rare cases of suicidal ideation and suicide have been reported

though no relationship to drug administration has been confirmed. "

 

What makes the concern over growing drug resistance to Malaria an even more

urgent problem is that the increase in global travel, especially to areas such

as Africa and Southeast and Southwest Asia where Malaria is common raise the

specter of its return to the United States. Other tropical diseases such as the

West Nile Virus have already made there way here, and some fear it is only a

matter of time before Malaria does so as well.

 

But is there a solution?

 

AN HERBAL SOLUTION?

 

Surprisingly, one has been available for at least three decades, but it has been

resisted by both Big Pharma and the international institutions that do its

bidding.

 

At about the same time the U.S. Army was looking for a new Malaria drug to give

to soldiers fighting in Vietnam, the Chinese military was engaged in the same

task to protect their own troops and those of North Vietnam. Their approach,

however, was quite different.

 

China has a tradition of using herbal medicine that dates back over 2,000 years.

In 1965, Chinese military researchers began looking at traditional herbal

remedies to see if they could find one that was effective against the strain of

Malaria endemic to Vietnam. In short order they hit on an herb known as " sweet

wormwood. "

 

Sweet wormwood had been used to treat a variety of illnesses in China for more

than two millennia. Normally administered as a tea, it had no noticeable side

effects and seemed quite effective. The Chinese military researchers were able

to isolate the active ingredient in sweet wormwood, a substance called

Artemisinin, and to develop a simple process to extract it.

 

The results were astounding.

 

ARTEMISININ'S EFFECTIVENESS

 

They found that Artemisinin was effective against all strains of Malaria, and

more important, its therapeutic action was stunningly rapid. In one clinical

trial, it was found to destroy 95% of the Malaria parasites in patients within

twenty hours. The fever typically accompanying a Malaria infection was gone

within eight hours. Moreover, there were no side effects. Other studies of

Artemisinin confirmed its effectiveness and rapid action - something

particularly important for the treatment of very young children who account for

90% of all Malaria deaths.

 

But that wasn't all of the good news concerning Artemisinin.

 

Because sweet wormwood is easy to cultivate and because the extraction process

to separate out the Artemisinin is simple, it was cheap to manufacture. In other

words, it was the perfect answer to the developing world's Malaria pandemic.

 

Of course, this new " miracle " cure was embraced by the World Health

Organization, UNICEF and the other international organizations trying to combat

global public health problems - at least that's what you would think.

Unfortunately you would be wrong.

 

Their reaction was exactly the opposite.

 

ESTABLISHMENT RESISTANCE AND REVERSAL

 

In 2002, Dr. Dennis Carroll, a health advisor to the Agency for International

Development called Artemisinin " … not ready for prime time … "

 

The World Bank and UNICEF objected to the herbal remedy claiming it was " too

expensive. " At the time, a dose of Artemisinin sold for around $2 whereas a

single dose of Lariam costs from $4.50 to $6.00!

 

Suddenly, last April, Dr. Carroll reversed himself and became a cheerleader for

Artemisinin.

 

How could this happen?

 

Well, he was not exactly a cheerleader for Artemisinin. Rather, he became a

cheerleader for what is termed " ACT " or " Artemisinin Combination Therapy. " Under

this approach Artemisinin is combined with a pharmaceutical product - usually a

drug called Lumefantrine that is produced by Novartis, the huge Swiss drug

conglomerate. Interestingly, in poor countries Novartis sells the combination

under the brand name " Coartem " for about 90 cents a dose. In the Developed

World, however, it sells the same drug under the brand name Riamet for around

$20 a dose.

 

While Novartis could not patent Artemisinin, because as a plant, it was a

naturally occurring substance, it can patent the combination - ensuring its

coffers will be fattened!

 

But that's not all!

 

Even though the World Health Organization now says it needs at least 100 million

doses of the combination drug by next year, Novartis managed to get it qualified

as an " orphan drug " under FDA regulations making it eligible for preferential

tax and investment treatment!

 

So now that Big Phama can make a profit, the ancient Chinese herb has suddenly

become the " next new thing " in the pharmaceutical industry.

 

The question is how many children died needlessly while greedy executives in

corporate board rooms were protecting their profits?

 

If you only take the period from 1989 when Lariam, the last " next new thing " for

Malaria came onto the market into account, the death toll comes to around 15

million!

 

But at least Artemisinin is now becoming available, and not a moment too soon,

because conventional pharmaceutical remedies are rapidly losing their

effectiveness.

 

In Uganda, for example, a country which had not previously had a significant

drug resistance problem, the number of Malaria cases not responding to existing

pharmaceutical products rose from 6% in 2000 to 31% in 2003. Similar patterns of

rapidly growing drug resistance are being experienced elsewhere.

 

BIG PHARMA'S PLOY

 

Of course, Big Pharma uses this fact as a justification for using a " combined

drug therapy. " They claim that using Artemisinin in combination with

Lumefantrine will protect the herb against losing its effectiveness. This makes

sense on first glance except for one thing: Artemisinin has been used for over

2,000 years without losing its punch.

 

Why would it suddenly do so now?

 

The simple truth is that Novartis is not afraid of Artemisinin losing its

medicinal power. It's afraid of losing the drug's financial power. As long as it

is sold in combination with a conventional pharmaceutical product, the

combination can be patented even if the herb cannot. That means that whenever

the patent on Lumefantrine is set to expire, all that Novartis has to do is

combine it with another pharmaceutical product - it really doesn't matter what

since it's the herb that's providing the greatest medical benefit - and apply

for a new patent! It effectively creates Big Pharma's fondest dream - a patent

that will never expire!

 

Not only that, but by following the two-tiered sales approach and having one

relatively cheap brand name Novartis uses in poor countries and another

expensive one for the rest of the world, the company can continue to watch its

profits grow while avoiding criticism for exploiting poor nations.

 

As if its indefinite patent protection weren't enough, institutions such as the

World Health Organization, the Global Fund for AIDS Tuberculosis and Malaria and

the U.S. Agency for International Development are providing grants to farmers to

grow more sweet wormwood so that sufficient supplies of the herb are available.

That these grants also serve to keep manufacturing costs down for Novartis

thereby making their profits larger is yet another benefit to the pharmaceutical

giant.

 

But how does Artemisinin work? The answer to this question may have implications

for global health that go far beyond its effectiveness against Malaria.

 

Artemisinin contains a bioactive peroxide molecule. It is this molecule that is

the key to its effectiveness against the Malaria parasite. Malaria grows in the

body's erythrocytes, or red blood cells. Hemoglobin, a major component of red

blood cells, contains large amounts of " unbound " or free iron. The iron plays a

crucial role in the function of red blood cells to transport oxygen throughout

the body. The peroxide molecule in Artemisinin reacts with the iron in the red

blood cells to create free radicals that in turn destroy the parasite's

membranes, killing it. This mechanism may be the reason why Malaria parasites

are unable to develop a resistance to Artemisinin.

 

The belief that oxygen plays a key role in the Artemisinin anti-malaria

mechanism has been reinforced by studies of derivatives of the substance that do

not contain the peroxide molecule. These were found to be ineffective against

malaria. Further, when other drugs such as miconazole and doxorubicin that also

generate free radicals through an oxygen interaction were used in conjunction

with Artemisinin, its effect was enhanced. Conversely when substances that

retard free radical creation such as vitamin E were used in conjunction, its

effect was reduced.

 

In a separate study where the antioxidant defenses of rats were manipulated, it

was discovered that those with weaker antioxidant defenses were more resistant

to the Malaria parasite, whereas those with enhanced antioxidant defenses were

more vulnerable to the disease.

 

But why is it so important that Artemisinin transport oxygen to cells? The

answer lies in the research of German Nobel Laureate Otto Warburg.

 

A POSSIBLE CANCER CURE?

 

Warburg won the Nobel Prize in 1928 for describing the way a cancer cell

functions. A key element of his research was to establish that cancer cells were

" anaerobic. " That is to say that they required an ABSENCE of oxygen to survive.

Since 1928, countless researchers have worked to find a way to transport oxygen

to cancer cells. Although some researchers, such as Dr. Keith Brewer, developed

treatments based on this principle, their discoveries were either ignored or

attacked.

 

But in the case of Artemisinin, the fact that it is approved by the FDA for use

in humans may finally open the door to an oxygen-based approach to cancer

treatment. Once a drug is approved for one purpose, it can be prescribed by

physicians to treat any disease they deem appropriate. This practice is called

" off-label prescribing " and is widespread within the medical community. Soon,

though, it may not be necessary to engage in such subterfuge.

 

Professor Henry Lai and Assistant Professor Narendra Singh of the University of

Washington have been conducting in vitro experiments to determine the

effectiveness of Artemisinin in fighting cancer. A study concerning their

research published in the Journal Life Sciences described how the compound

killed virtually all human breast cancer cells exposed to it within sixteen

hours.

 

According to Dr. Lai, " Not only does it appear to be effective, but it's very

selective. " He continued " it's highly toxic to the cancer cells, but has a

marginal impact on normal breast cells. "

 

Dr. Lai has been investigating the potential of Artemisinin in regard to

treating various types of cancer for over seven years with consistently

promising results. He has developed a " cocktail " consisting of holotransferrin,

a substance that binds with a cancer cells " transferring receptors, " the part of

the cell that absorbs iron and a water soluble form of Artemisinin. Cancer cells

normally absorb much more iron than healthy cells. Therefore the chemical

cocktail is attracted to the diseased cells and brings the Artemisinin along

with it.

 

Although full-scale human trials have not been conducted as yet, in one animal

trial, a dog with severe bone cancer was completely cured within five days of

being given the Artemisinin cocktail.

 

According to Dr. Lai, Artemisinin could open the door to a whole new era of

cancer treatment. Patients could be given a prescription for a pill they could

take at home without the need to go through expensive hospital-based treatments.

 

" That would be very easy, and this [Artemisinin] could make that possible. The

cost is another plus - at $2 a dose, it's very cheap. And with millions of

people who have already taken Artemisinin for Malaria we have a track record

showing that it's safe. "

 

Dr. Lai continued " The fascinating thing is that this was something the Chinese

used thousands of years ago. We simply found a different application. "

 

The real question is not whether Artemisinin will eventually become part of the

arsenal for fighting cancer as it has become part of the arsenal for fighting

Malaria. Given the amazing results of Dr. Lai's research, it undoubtedly will.

The real question is whether Big Pharma and its allies in government will make

the public wait three decades before it becomes available.

 

 

 

 

 

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