Why am I directing my ire at the Burzynski clinic? Any one of these reasons would be enough, but let’s go through the list, shall we?
1. Pseudoscience. The Burzynski clinic claims to be able to cure cancer with “antineoplaston therapy.” What’s that? Mainly a load of bunk (emphasis mine):
Some people promote antineoplaston therapy as a cancer treatment. But available scientific evidence does not support claims that antineoplaston therapy is effective in treating or preventing cancer. Antineoplaston therapy was developed by Dr. S. R. Burzynski in the 1970’s. He believes that antineoplastons are part of the body’s natural defence mechanisms against cancer and that people with cancer don’t have enough of them. At first, he took these compounds out of urine and blood. Now, it is possible to make them in the laboratory. There are several types of antineoplastons. They are known by the letter ‘A’ and a number such as A10, AS-25 and AS2-1.
Antineoplastons are taken either as a tablet or as an injection into the bloodstream.
There have been a number of phase 1 and 2 trials in different types of cancer. These early phase trials test what dose of treatment people should have, how safe the treatment is, and how well it works. Early trials only give the treatment to small numbers of people. Although Dr Burzynski’s own clinic have reported positive results for these trials, no other researchers have been able to show that this type of treatment helps to treat cancer. Other researchers have criticised the way the Burzynski Clinic trials have been carried out. Despite researching this type of treatment for over 35 years, no phase 3 trials have been carried out or reported. A randomised clinical trial is the only way to properly test whether any new drug or therapy works.
Are we clear? There’s no evidence that “antineoplaston therapy” cures cancer, despite decades of research. Moving on.
2. Unethical behavior. Despite this lack of evidence, the Burzynski clinic will happily give you their “treatment.” The newest example of this despicable behavior is with four-year old Billie Bainbridge, who has an inoperable brain tumor.
The Burzynski clinic is happy to “treat” her – for $200,000. Which was donated by random people and even some celebrities (including the bands Gorillaz and Radiohead), who had no idea that there’s no evidence that this treatment works. Exploiting sick children for your own profit is the lowest of low.
Quackometer puts it best on why this false hope is so terrible:
False hope takes away opportunities for families to be together and to prepare for the future, no matter how desperately sad that is. It may make the lives of those treated more unpleasant and scary. (Antineoplaston therapy is not without dangerous side-effects). It exploits the goodwill of others and enriches those that are either deluded, misguided or fraudulent. It may leave a tragedy-struck family in financial ruin afterwards. Giving false hope may be more about appeasing the guilt and helplessness of ourselves rather than an act of kindness to the sick.
3. Bullying. If you can’t back up your claims with scientific evidence, it seems like the next step is propaganda and bullying. Burzynski claims he’s some of “brave maverick doctor” who’s being persecuted by the scientific community. There’s a whole propaganda documentary supporting his clinic.
But now the clinic has turned to bullying bloggers who dare question the efficacy of his treatment. Marc Stephens, who represents the Burzynski clinic, has been sending deranged pseudo-legal rants to these bloggers, threatening to sue for libel. Andy Lewis of Quackometer had his family threatened:
“Be smart and considerate for your family and new child, and shut the article down..Immediately.”
If that wasn’t enough, Marc has aggressively gone after 17-year-old blogger Rhys Morgan, including a screen capture of a Google Maps satellite view of Rhys’s house in order to intimidate him.
If Burzynski really is a visionary, his research should speak for itself. Bullying and silencing is not how science is done, despite how highly you think of your ideas. The Texas State Medical Board is holding a hearing next April to revoke his medical license – not because he’s a rebel – but because he’s unethically exploiting sick people with his pseudoscience.
If you want to learn even more about “antineoplaston therapy” and Burzynski’s history, Dr. David Gorski has an excellent and lengthy summary over at Science Based Medicine. And if you want to show these bullies that silencing tactics do not work, spread the word far and wide. Let’s teach them about this little thing called the “Streisand Effect.”
Beth says
Krebiozen, anyone?
StarStuff! Because f**k you, that's why says
I would really like to be able to honestly say that this story surprised me, but I can’t. I’ve read way to many stories about woo peddlers taking advantage of desperate people. I agree with the tag “I hate people”.
OverlappingMagisteria says
Google only has 1 review and its positive.
That can be changed
Coragyps says
Has anyone seen a link that tells which “amino acids and peptides” qualify as “antineoplastons?”
BCskeptic says
Yep, snake-oil salesmen are alive and well in the 21st century. The dr. is truly a despicable character.
I dream that if everyone had a proper and complete basic science education, that they would be immune to this charlatonism. But I imagine gamblers know the odds, and still gamble, so it will probably just remain a dream. Perhaps the evolutionary roots of belief in woo, and hope in the impossible, just run too deep.
Stein says
My dad had real doctors and a real Medical Center.
They promised everything.
And ended up taking everything.
And dad died anyway.
But a Kansas City Lawyer fot us a huge settlement and one of the doctors got suspened and one lost his licence.
So we have the additional satisfaction of knowing their families were screwed too.
Blitzgal says
All I know is, he first isolated them from human piss.
The Artful Nudger says
Blew the dust off my blog when PZ posted his article on this evil quack and posted something of my own – yours, as usual, is better reading.
For any that are interested, http://theartfulnudger.blogspot.com/2011/11/streisand-amplifier-stanislaw-rajmund.html
(And anyone who has a blog, post as well. It’d be nice to see Burzynski and “quack” conflated in the style of what Dan Savage did to Santorum.)
Azkyroth says
What?
fred5 says
Haven’t we heard that claim before?
Perhaps Dr. Burzynski will be going the same way soon.
We can only hope.
fred5 says
That doesn’t make any sense to me but according to Wikipedia that’s the stuff he is using in his “clinical trials”.
Cheyenne Hotek says
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