Illustration of white blood cells attacking a cancer cell.
The new treatment, announced yesterday by The Jerusalem Post, is being developed by Accelerated Evolution Biotechnologies (AEBi) under the leadership of its CEO Dr. Ilan Morad.
Still a smattering of social media users were optimistic, if not cautiously, and in some cases of course the discussions rounded out to include many long-standing conspiratorial beliefs.
And weighing in today on behalf of the American Cancer Society (ACS) on his blog, “A Cure For Cancer? Not So Fast,” Len Lichtenfeld, MD, ACS chief medical officer cautioned: “…it goes without saying, we all share the aspirational hope that they are correct. Unfortunately, we must be aware that this is far from proven as an effective treatment for people with cancer, let alone a cure."
This is a news report based on limited information provided by researchers and a company working on this technology. It apparently has not been published in the scientific literature where it would be subject to review, support and/or criticism from knowledgeable peers.
My colleagues here at American Cancer Society tell me phage or peptide display techniques, while very powerful research tools for selecting high affinity binders, have had a difficult road as potential drugs. If this group is just beginning clinical trials, they may well have some difficult experiments ahead.
This is based on a mouse experiment which is described as “exploratory.” It appears at this point there is not a well-established program of experiments which could better define how this works—and may not work—as it moves from the laboratory bench to the clinic.
We all have hope that a cure for cancer can be found and found quickly. It is certainly possible this approach may work. However, as experience has taught us so many times, the gap from a successful mouse experiment to effective, beneficial application of exciting laboratory concepts to helping cancer patients at the bedside is in fact a long and treacherous journey, filled with unforeseen and unanticipated obstacles.
Amid an influx of cancer specialists internationally criticizing the Israelis’ claims, The Times of Israel today posted an article stating that a cancer cure is “doubtful” after the Israeli team admitted it “can’t afford” to publish findings.
“The CEO of the company behind the research told The Times of Israel on Tuesday that it has not published its research in medical journals, as is the norm, because it ‘can’t afford’ to do so, but that the results of its pre-clinical trials have been ‘very good,’” The Times reported.
He said the company is now in the process of patenting the concept and funding to date has come from private investors. The team now aims to advance its research and get to clinical trials as fast as possible, Morad said.
For further information on what scientists are saying of the company's claims, click here.