Posts & notes on
and
Nonprofit drugs / Global Cures / Cures without borders / Cures within Reach
Developing and implementing processes to make “cheap” / “forgotten” / “(commercially) not interesting” / “orphan” – yet effective (and, of course, duly tested) – drugs (medicines) available to all. Building up a world wide network.
Website of “Neziskové léky” (Nonprofit drugs), in Czech (English to follow): neziskoveleky.cz
Disulfiram as a (pilot) case of Nonprofit drugs
Model of DSF anti-cancer activity in patients
Fig. 4f
Alcohol-abuse drug disulfiram targets cancer via p97 segregase adaptor NPL4
doi:10.1038/nature25016
Disulfiram clinical studies / trials
“We have just launched one clinical trial [of disulfiram] in Sweden [and] Norway for patients with glioblastoma(a) and one in the Czech republic for advanced breast cancer, and [we] are about to do [two] trials in Denmark — for advanced colorectal and breast tumors.
[W]e will try to improve the form of the active substance so that it could entirely replace the disulfiram [plus] copper supplement [combination] in the near future.”
– Jiří Bártek
in: How cancer could be treated with an old alcoholism drug, Medical News Today, 7 Dec ’17, by Ana Sandoiu, fact checked by Jasmin Collier
(a) yet disulfiram doesn’t seem promising on glioblastoma, be it without Cu (doi:10.1007/s11060-016-2104-2), or with it (doi:10.1007/s11060-018-2775-y)
These trials on ClinicalTrials.gov
Phase II trial of disulfiram with copper in metastatic breast cancer (DISC), NCT03323346 – phase II clinical trial, with the aim “to establish clinical evidence for introducing disulfiram and cooper as an active therapy for metastatic breast cancer upon failure (b) of conventional systemic and/or locoregional therapies” in Olomouc (Czechia) / Marián Hajdúch, University Hospital Olomouc
(b) yet disulfiram should (also) be tested before failure of conventional therapies
Disulfiram in recurrent glioblastoma,(c) NCT02678975 – clinical trial, with the aim “to investigate disulfiram and copper-supplement as add-on treatment in glioblastoma patients with recurrence receiving alkylating chemotherapy, a multicenter RCT including patients in Norway and Sweden, as a proof-of concept study” in Göteborg (Gothenburg), Trondheim, Skåne (Scania), Stockholm, Linköping, Jönköping, Uppsala and the Örebro County / Asgeir S. Jakola, Sahlgrenska University Hospital with St. Olavs Hospital, Lund University Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital, University Hospital Linkoeping, Region Örebro County, Ryhov County Hospital, Uppsala University Hospital
(c) see (a) above
… more disulfiram clinical trials on ClinicalTrials.gov→
… more disulfiram clinical trials (web search)→
How this all began
Lewison EF Prog Clin Biol Res 1977
In 1977, Dr. Lewison from Johns Hopkins University in the USA published a case report of a patient with metastasizing breast cancer who became an alcoholic. Between 1961-1971 she used Antabuse (disulfiram) and became cancer-free. She died in 1971 – not because of cancer, but by falling from a window while heavily drunk.
“However, in 1961 she became a severe alcoholic and it was necessary to discontinue all hormone therapy and Antabuse was started [for treatment of alcoholism]. Over the next 10 years, from 1961 to 1971, complete resolution of all bone lesions in the spine, skull, pelvis and ribs gradually occurred and the patient remained clinically free of cancer with no further hormone therapy, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy. Frequent psychiatric care was required and she remained on and off Antabuse therapy for her continued drinking problem. She died in 1971 when she accidentally fell from a third floor window. The coroner’s report showed a high blood alcohol level and residual nests of metastatic carcinoma in the bone marrow.”
disulfiram · nonprofit drugs 