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In that way, things that start out as natural products (e.g., bacteria) can be cleverly modified to become rationally designed drugs.
"We can dramatically speed up evolution by mutating these genes ourselves," Dr. Klausner says. "We can make millions of mutations."
This idea isn't new. In cancer, rational drug design has been around since the late 1940's (e.g., N Engl J Med 1948;238:787-793). Everyone knows that this has led to very few valuable agents, despite an enormous expenditure of money and brainpower over the decades.
The interview with Dr. Klausner left me feeling letdown, to put it mildly. He has been promoted as a reformer, and seems sincere and well-intentioned. But now I think we are looking at years of the same-old same-old at NCI.
NCI and the drug company are ignoring the obvious. There are real, natural natural products out there that have already shown effectiveness around the world. But because these are difficult to successfully patent or to monopolize scientists are driven to chemically modify them on behalf of the profit motive. That process makes them less effective, foreign to the body, and usually very toxic.
Dr. Klausneršs talk about "non-natural natural" takes us in the wrong direction. This issue of the Chronicles is an extended reply to the director. It highlights just a few of the "natural natural" products that deserve intensive study. These deserve first priority in any rational anti-cancer plan.
Coordinator Anne Beattie
@ 144 St. John's Place,
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Phone 718-636-4433
Fax 718-636-0186