A fairly frequent topic on Science-Based Medicine is the issue of for-profit stem cell clinics selling unsupported stem cell-based treatments with little or no evidence to support them for huge amounts of money. I make no bones about it. In my estimation, every for-profit stem cell clinic is a quack clinic bilking patients with promises of the magical things they claim stem cells can do. Every. Single. One I’ve searched and searched, and I have yet to find a for-profit stem cell clinic that provides only science- and evidence-based treatments for a reasonable cost. I hope that one day I …
Category: Cancer
Accelerated approval for cancer drugs: The FDA failing to protect patients
There is a tension inherent in the drug approval process between the desire to approve new drugs rapidly in order to treat suffering people and the need to be cautious, to make sure that new drugs are safe and effective before they are approved for sale. This weighing of the risks of too-rapid approval of drugs that doesn’t work (or doesn’t work well) and might cause harm versus the harm that can be caused by delaying approval of an effective drug that might help millions longer than necessary is complex, as is balancing the benefits of rapidly approving effective drugs …
Katie Britton-Jordan: Sadly, vegan diets don’t cure cancer
Katie Britton-Jordan was a young woman with a treatable breast cancer. Instead of science-based medical care, she embarked on a vegan diet and a cornucopia of quackery. Now she is dead, because these treatments don't work.
NORI protocol: The fruit diet that doesn’t cure cancer
Mark Simon is the founder of the Nutritional Oncology Research Institute. He has neither an MD, DO, nor PhD. (He doesn’t even have an ND!) Yet he claims to have discovered a dietary protocol that can cure cancer. Can it? (I think you know the answer to this question.)
Noah McAdams: Another story of “parental rights” to choose quackery versus the rights of a child with cancer
Noah McAdams is a three year old boy with lymphblastic leukemia. His parents want to treat him with cannabis. The court says otherwise, but not strongly enough.
IonCleanse foot baths: The confluence of antivaccine nonsense and cancer quackery
Antivax and cancer quackery go together, unfortunately. Here, Orac describes yet another example of this, as the (Not-So)-Thinking Moms promote a fundraiser to pay for quackery, including IonCleanse footpaths, for a young woman with cancer.
OncANP writes a “statement of principles” for naturopathic oncology quackery
The Oncology Association of Naturopathic Physicians (OncANP) writes a "sttaement of principles" guideline for naturopathic oncology. How can you write a statement of principles for quackery? More importantly, why would a real oncology journal publish it?
The sad story of cancer patient Gemma Nuttall, Hallwang Clinic, and crowdfunding
The BBC recounts the sad story of Gemma Nuttall, a 28-year-old mother with ovarian cancer, and her pursuit of false hope at Hallwang Clinic. It's a sad story that I've recounted far too many times over the years.
Ranjana Srivastava: When cancer patients want quackery
Regular readers will have noticed that I haven’t been blogging nearly as much as usual. All I can say is that a combination of personal and professional issues and obligations have gotten in the way. Also, I have been a bit under the weather, as hard as it is to believe that a Tarial cell-driven ultimate computer can be. Fortunately, however, things seem to be looking up, and I think that I’ll be able to get back into the swing of things next week. In the meantime, I saw a great article by oncologist Ranjana Srivastava, who notes that My …
MuTaTo: Is an Israeli company within a year of a “complete cure for cancer”?
MuTaTo, a technology hyped by an Israeli company, was all over the news a couple of days ago as the "complete cure for cancer." But is it? There are so many red flags in the news reports as to raise serious doubts, and the media's science communication in this case has been an epic fail.