Scientists may have cured cancer last week.

Yep.

So, why haven't the media picked up on it?

Here's the deal. Researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada found a cheap and easy to produce drug that kills almost all cancers. The drug is dichloroacetate, and since it is already used to treat metabolic disorders, we know it should be no problem to use it for other purposes.

Doesn't this sound like the kind of news you see on the front page of every paper?

The drug also has no patent, which means it could be produced for bargain basement prices in comparison to what drug companies research and develop.

Scientists tested DCA on human cells cultured outside the body where it killed lung, breast and brain cancer cells, but left healthy cells alone. Rats plump with tumors shrank when they were fed water supplemented with DCA.

Link to Article

The New Scientist later editorialized, "The drug may yet live up to its promise as an anti-cancer agent - clinical trials are expected to start soon. It may even spawn an entirely new class of anti-cancer drugs. For now, however, it remains experimental, never yet properly tested in a person with cancer. People who self-administer the drug are taking a very long shot and, unlikely as it may sound, could even make their health worse."[14] (emphasis mine)

The historical likelihood that a promising agent in pre-clinical (i.e., cell-line killing) experiments will become an effective human cancer drug is 5%,[citation needed] and the likelihood of an FDA approval for any given drug entering Phase I testing is reportedly 8-11%.[15][16] As of April 2007, DCA has passed phase 1 trials and can enter directly phase 2 trials in patients with cancer[citation needed].

en.wikipedia.org...

Doctors warned of potential problems if people attempt to try DCA outside a controlled clinical trial. "If it starts going badly, who is following you before it gets out of control? By the time you realize your liver is failing, you're in big trouble," said Laura Shanner, Associate professor of health ethics at the University of Alberta.[25]

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
en.wikipedia.org...

Doctors warned of potential problems if people attempt to try DCA outside a controlled clinical trial. "If it starts going badly, who is following you before it gets out of control? By the time you realize your liver is failing, you're in big trouble," said Laura Shanner, Associate professor of health ethics at the University of Alberta.[25]

Sounds scary for someone who is not medically trained to use it.
I wish they would test and produce this drug if it is truly useful for the fight against cancer. To be honest I just don't see the drug company's doing this.

Originally posted by uberarcanist

Originally posted by Digital_Reality
en.wikipedia.org...

Doctors warned of potential problems if people attempt to try DCA outside a controlled clinical trial. "If it starts going badly, who is following you before it gets out of control? By the time you realize your liver is failing, you're in big trouble," said Laura Shanner, Associate professor of health ethics at the University of Alberta.[25]

Sounds scary for someone who is not medically trained to use it.
I wish they would test and produce this drug if it is truly useful for the fight against cancer. To be honest I just don't see the drug company's doing this.

Digi, if you read the rest of the article you'll find that clinical trials are beginning, and while the drug companies most likely will not be funding this drug, there are lots of nonprofit agencies that most likely will.