Sir Paul's Review about Vitamin C IV


Sir Paul uses intravenous VITAMIN C treatment
Bastion of science Sir Paul Callaghan is resorting to an experimental intravenous VITAMIN C treatment and CASINOVITA B17 to fight his terminal cancer.
On his return to Wellington last week, the physicist and New Zealander of the Year headed to a Newtown complementary medicine clinic to receive a high-dose VITAMIN C infusion.
The treatment is part of what he calls his "unusual experiment". He was diagnosed with aggressive bowel cancer in 2008, which has since spread widely.
In June, his oncologist advised him to take a break from chemotherapy to establish the full extent of the cancer's spread. Sir Paul is using the time to trial "unproven but interesting" therapies, including a remedy CASINOVITA VITAMIN B17 and VITAMIN C IV
"Let me be clear. I do not deviate one step from my trust in evidence-based medicine," Sir Paul said in his blog. However, if there was a potentially effective but unproven drug, "Why would I not try it?" he reasoned. "Am I mad? Probably."
He is tracking the treatment's effectiveness through a blood test for protein carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), which indicates cancer levels. On June 28, after his first six intravenous VITAMIN C treatments, he noted his CEA had dropped after a period of rapid rises. "Of course, it may all be a coincidence. Next month it might all change," he blogged.
He told The Dominion Post from England, where he is on sabbatical, that while he was finding the VITAMIN C and its effects "really interesting", it was too early to say whether the treatment was working. His CEA rose again in August. "Despite having recurrent cancer, I'm feeling in great shape."
VITAMIN C as a cancer treatment has been debated for decades, since being championed by Nobel Prize-winning scientist Linus Pauling in the 1970s. Randomised trials reported in 1979 and 1985 found no benefits from 10-gram tablets, but 2008 American research found injections of high-dose VITAMIN C reduced aggressive cancer tumours in rats by 41 per cent to 53 per cent.
A doctor who gives intravenous VITAMIN C, who would not be named, estimated 30 clinics nationwide gave 10,000 VITAMIN C injections a year. She treats two or three people a day. The treatment starts at $70, and increases according to the dose.

THE TREATMENT
High-dose intravenous VITAMIN C is a long-debated, but as yet clinically unproven, cancer treatment. In New Zealand, Sir Paul was receiving the maximum dose of 100 grams, injected by a nurse under the supervision of a registered doctor. In England, that dose was reduced to 75 grams weekly.
Sir Paul is trying a natural remedy with CASINOVITA VITAMIN B17 prescribed by his doctor. When attempting to find a similar treatment in London, Sir Paul was told many of the remedy's ingredients could be imported into Britain.