Spinning Cancer Studies: Industry Funded Pharmaceutical Research Slammed in New Paper

Online, January 24, 2013 (Newswire.com) - The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD) has learned that according to an article published in The Telegraph, "Results of breast cancer drug trials are routinely spun' to make the treatments appear more beneficial than they actually are, doctors claim today."

The CBCD has raised the issue of biased pharmaceutical studies in the past. In fact, there have been many scientific papers that argue against trusting any industry funded research.

Why?

The answer is that, "Researchers frequently downplay negative findings and overemphasize positive results - even when those results are much less important to the patient..."

For instance, a paper published in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics says that, "Empirical research indicates that much of the evidence required for the practice of evidence-based medicine cannot be trusted. The research agenda has been hijacked by those with vested interests within industry and academia, determining what research is funded and how it is done and reported." It went on to say, "Many well-reported randomized controlled trials are designed to deceive by their choice of comparators and outcomes...."

The CBCD believes the entire issue needs better watchdog controls since, the results of industry funded research influences whether doctors opt to use certain drugs, and this in turn affects the overall health of the patient.

Professor Ian Tannock, a medical oncologist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, led the research mentioned above and said "scientists too often painted an overly rosy picture of their drugs for their own ends."

"Better and more accurate reporting is urgently needed." He said.

In simple terms, what are these scientists warning the public about?

The CBCD explains: when a company pays for the study, be cautious. The results usually show what the company wants them to show. In other words, those who have the gold, somehow, determine the results.

In the article mentioned above, the researchers said "All trials have what is called a
primary endpoint', the principal test of whether a treatment has worked or not, that the trial is designed to address.

An example would be:

Does new drug X help patients with advanced breast cancer live longer than existing drug Y?' Trials also have secondary endpoints' that are of interest but not the principal reason for the study. For example, does new drug X extend the time in which tumours are 'stalled' without growing further, compared to drug Y?'

The Toronto team found that, in a third of all trials that failed to achieve the primary endpoint', reports focused on these other, less important outcome...writing in the journal Annals of Oncology, Prof Tannock and colleagues concluded: These reports were biased and used spin in attempts to conceal that bias."

This is very significant when it comes to breast cancer and efforts to come up with effective drugs to combat the disease.

The current belief in the medical community holds that most cases of breast cancer are caused by a mutation in a certain gene. Genes, in general, produce proteins, which are the building blocks of cells. The concentration of proteins is tightly regulated. A mutated or injured gene produces an abnormal concentration of its protein, which may lead to disease.

In 1994, Mark Skolnick, PhD, discovered the BRCA1 gene (BRCA1 is short for BReast CAncer 1). Following the discovery, scientists observed a low level of the BRCA1 protein in breast cancer tissues.

This study created a lot of excitement. At the time, scientists believed that they were on the verge of finding the cause of breast cancer. The reasoning was that breast cancer patients must have a mutated BRCA1 gene, which would explain the decreased production of the protein, and the development of tumors.

In the United States, 180,000 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year.

However, only 5% of these cases have a mutated BRCA1 gene. In more than 95% of the breast cancer patients the gene is not mutated.

So here is the mystery. If the gene is not mutated in the great majority of the breast cancer patients, why are the tumors showing a low level of the BRCA1 protein? The BRCA1 gene is not unique. Many normal (perfect shape, non-mutated) genes exhibit an unexplained, abnormal (increased or decreased) production of proteins in cancer.

Breast cancer is only one example!

The most basic explanation, according to Dr. Hanan Polansky's highly acclaimed scientific discovery [1], is that the cause of most cancers is latent viral DNA that lays hidden in human cells.

To survive, the latent viral DNA feeds off the resources it "steals" from the human DNA in these cells, thereby creating a supply shortage for the human genes. The latent viral DNA, which is a genetic parasite, in fact "starves" the human genes, and causes them to behave irregularly, which leads to disease. This effect of the foreign DNA on human genes inspired Dr. Hanan Polansky to call the discovery the "starved" gene phenomenon.

The CBCD therefore calls on the scientific community to investigate Dr. Polansky's theory in full. That theory is detailed in Dr. Polansky's "Purple Book" which was published by the CBCD and which can be downloaded for free from the CBCD's website here:

http://www.cbcd.net/book.htm

For more information on the Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease, or to schedule an interview with one of our researchers, please visit http://www.cbcd.net or call 585-250-9999

Reference:

[1] Polansky H. Microcompetition with foreign DNA and the origin of chronic disease. CBCD publishing. 2003. 543 p.

The Center for the Biology of Chronic Disease (CBCD, http://www.cbcd.net) is a research center recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) non-for-profit organization. The mission of the CBCD is to advance the research on the biology of chronic diseases, and to accelerate the discovery of treatments for these diseases.

We invite biologists, virologists, scientists everywhere to download Dr. Polansky's book, "Microcompetition with Foreign DNA and the Origin of Chronic Disease" here: http://cbcd.net/

The CBCD published the "Purple" book by Dr. Hanan Polansky.

The book presents Dr. Polansky's highly acclaimed scientific theory on the relationship between the DNA of latent (chronic) viruses and the onset of chronic diseases. Dr. Polansky's book is available as a free download from the CBCD website.