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Bioethics Cancer Clinical trials Medicine

Where to buy dichloroacetate (DCA)? Dichloroacetate suppliers, even?

Yes, I know that my blog buddy Abel wrote a post with almost exactly the same title as this. No, I’m not mindlessly aping him. I’m doing it because of what Abel revealed in his post: That most of his referrals lately have been Google searches looking for information on where to buy dichloroacetate, a.k.a. DCA.

I, too, have noticed a lot of referrals to my original post on DCA, in which I tried to explain why it isn’t the “cure” for cancer that some have been touting it as, most recently, a rather annoying troll going by the name of Robert Smith who’s been infesting my blog lately in my posts about DCA. (Sadly, he’s also infested Abel’s blog as well.) Indeed, this post on DCA got a referral from Reddit, resulting in by far the biggest single-day influx of readers that this blog has experienced, over 20,000. No other post that I’ve written has come close to that large a readership, and no other post that I’ve written in two years of blogging has been linked to as widely. It’s not even close. All of this reveals just what I feared about the excessive hype. The interest level is high and way precedes any evidence of clinical utility in humans against cancer. There are those out there who think that I was too hard on some of the bloggers who helped fuel this hype; they don’t see the pernicious effects of the false hope that such hype fuels among desperate patients or realize what it can lead to.

I do.

Already, I’m finding evidence of people trying to buy DCA and use it, all with no evidence that it works in humans, no knowledge of what an effective dose might be in humans or how long to use it even if it does have a therapeutic effect against human cancer, and without a knowledge of potential problems, several of which have been described by Abel.

Consequently, given Abel’s revelation, I thought I’d title a post with a title of where to buy DCA as well. My hope is that Abel’s and my posts on DCA will all show up on Google searches by people looking to buy DCA on the basis of one over-hyped animal study to provide a little balance and to echo Abel’s plea:

Again, if you stumbled on this post by looking for where you can buy dichloroacetate (DCA), please do not use the substance and please consult with your oncologist if you are thinking of doing so. While DCA has been the subject of clinical trials for rare metabolic diseases, it has never been tested in cancer patients. We have no idea how DCA will affect the metabolism of other drugs, including chemotherapy, and I am concerned since high doses can have dramatic effects on systemic pH and kidney function.

[…]

I would also encourage oncology professionals to be on the lookout for cancer patients with unexplained changes in renal function or electrolytes – as DCA is widely-available, there is a high probability that clinical professionals will be encountering patients with DCA toxicity if my search queries are any indication of the pervasiveness of interest in this as-yet untested therapy for human cancers.

Indeed.

ADDENDUM: Walnut has posted his critique on Daily Kos as well.

All Orac posts on DCA:

  1. In which my words will be misinterpreted as “proof” that I am a “pharma shill”
  2. Will donations fund dichloroacetate (DCA) clinical trials?
  3. Too fast to label others as “conspiracy-mongers”?
  4. Dichloroacetate: One more time…
  5. Laying the cluestick on DaveScot over dichloroacetate (DCA) and cancer
  6. A couple of more cluesticks on dichloroacetate (DCA) and cancer
  7. Where to buy dichloroacetate (DCA)? Dichloroacetate suppliers, even?
  8. An uninformative “experiment” on dichloroacetate
  9. Slumming around The DCA Site (TheDCASite.com), appalled at what I’m finding
  10. Slumming around The DCA Site (TheDCASite.com), the finale (for now)
  11. It’s nice to be noticed
  12. The deadly deviousness of the cancer cell, or how dichloroacetate (DCA) might fail
  13. The dichloroacetate (DCA) self-medication phenomenon hits the mainstream media
  14. Dichloroacetate (DCA) and cancer: Magical thinking versus Tumor Biology 101
  15. Checking in with The DCA Site
  16. Dichloroacetate and The DCA Site: A low bar for “success”
  17. Dichloroacetate (DCA): A scientist’s worst nightmare?
  18. Dichloroacetate and The DCA Site: A low bar for “success” (part 2)
  19. “Clinical research” on dichloroacetate by TheDCASite.com: A travesty of science
  20. A family practitioner and epidemiologist are prescribing dichloracetate (DCA) in Canada
  21. An “arrogant medico” makes one last comment on dichloroacetate (DCA)

Posts by fellow ScienceBlogger Abel Pharmboy:

  1. The dichloroacetate (DCA) cancer kerfuffle
  2. Where to buy dichloroacetate…
  3. Local look at dichloroacetate (DCA) hysteria
  4. Edmonton pharmacist asked to stop selling dichloroacetate (DCA)
  5. Four days, four dichloroacetate (DCA) newspaper articles
  6. Perversion of good science
  7. CBC’s ‘The Current’ on dichloroacetate (DCA)

By Orac

Orac is the nom de blog of a humble surgeon/scientist who has an ego just big enough to delude himself that someone, somewhere might actually give a rodent's posterior about his copious verbal meanderings, but just barely small enough to admit to himself that few probably will. That surgeon is otherwise known as David Gorski.

That this particular surgeon has chosen his nom de blog based on a rather cranky and arrogant computer shaped like a clear box of blinking lights that he originally encountered when he became a fan of a 35 year old British SF television show whose special effects were renowned for their BBC/Doctor Who-style low budget look, but whose stories nonetheless resulted in some of the best, most innovative science fiction ever televised, should tell you nearly all that you need to know about Orac. (That, and the length of the preceding sentence.)

DISCLAIMER:: The various written meanderings here are the opinions of Orac and Orac alone, written on his own time. They should never be construed as representing the opinions of any other person or entity, especially Orac's cancer center, department of surgery, medical school, or university. Also note that Orac is nonpartisan; he is more than willing to criticize the statements of anyone, regardless of of political leanings, if that anyone advocates pseudoscience or quackery. Finally, medical commentary is not to be construed in any way as medical advice.

To contact Orac: [email protected]

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