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.