Public Affairs: It's a nutraceutical, not a drug

Dr Henry Lowe, Contributor

I write in response to the unfortunate article written about me and my work by Dr William Aiken and published in The Gleaner on December 7, titled 'Prostate cancer breakthrough: Overstated and premature'.

My initial instinct had been to ignore the article, and leave it to be catalogued with the many similar pessimistic and negative attitudes that have always confronted researchers of all kinds throughout history. I am no stranger to these and am content to continue to do my work since the results always speak for themselves. I have, however, been convinced to respond by the many well-wishers with positive attitudes who see and fear the potential damage that can be done by comments such as those made by Dr Aiken.

The first concern is the assertions carried by Dr Aiken, whose article gave the totally incorrect impression that on December 2 at the launch of the Bio-Tech R&D Institute, I unveiled some kind of a miracle product that I claimed was ready to be administered to cure cancer. He went on to lecture on the dangers of such "drugs" being "prematurely marketed" and warned about "unscrupulous persons wanting to make a quick dollar" putting "useless products on the market". His unfortunate comments regarding my work even went on to more damaging innuendoes about the absence of proper scientific testing which could lead to harm to humans!

Hope and confidence

The fear, misinformation, confusion, and scepticism that he has already created is evident in the responses to the article on the newspaper's website. So to respond, I must bring clarity to the matter and restore hope and continued confidence in the many who understand and support my work.

First, I made no such claim to unveiling a cancer drug cure. At the launch of the institute, I announced that I had developed a product called Alpha Prostate Formula - a nutraceutical - which has been tested for prostate health and toxicity, and which would be launched by the institute by February 2011. The launch of the institute was attended by a large and distinguished audience, including the prime minister, several scientists from leading universities, and the presidents and members of the Medical Association of Jamaica.

The nutraceutical product I announced as coming to market was featured on the back cover of the event programme which clearly indicated that it was "a product directed towards prostate health" with ball-moss isolates, which relate to the US patent data and related research. There was absolutely no claim that this nutraceutical product would or could cure prostate cancer.

Nonetheless, we are very proud of the product, being the first of its kind produced in the region, I pointed out in my presentation that I was aware of only two similar nutraceutical products worldwide. So there was no claim to this nutraceutical being a breakthrough product, unique to the world of medicine, particularly since a nutraceutical could not make such a claim since at best, the bioactive principles have not been isolated and purified.

One wonders if Dr Aiken has made damaging comments about similar products produced by American, Australian, and European scientists and pharmaceutical manufacturers?

I further advised that the pharmaceutical drug development, for which clinical studies will soon be completed, was set back by litigation against persons who tried to misappropriate my research data for their own benefits. Therefore, the ultimate drug development is a "work in progress". We expect the final drug product to be ready in three years when all the final scientific and patent claims can be made following the completion of clinical trials.

Confidential data

Can Dr Aiken and his friends advise of any pharmaceutical company that divulges confidential data about any drug development before it goes to market? Even if I wanted to do this, I am keenly aware that one's data can be stolen, and I have cited, on a number of occasions, the legal battles I have had over my intellectual property costing in excess of half a million United States dollars because of this.

As far as I am concerned, all the data that will be made public, prior to commercialisation, has been made through my patents and at the many scientific fora at which I made presentations, the latest of which was at the major International Drug Discovery meeting in Beijing, China, in October 2010. Dr Joseph Bryant's letters to the media, which were published on December 8 (Jamaica Observer) and December 9 (The Gleaner), give more information.

I loathe blowing my own trumpet or singing my own praises and mention the following only to rebut the unfortunate suggestions by Dr Aiken that my work is untested and unproven.

1. I am the registered inventor and owner of a patent, approved by the Government of the United States of America (Patent #US 7,713,556 B2) for the anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory extracts of plant biomass and their uses. This patent was filed on December 10, 2007, and was granted on May 11 this year after rigorous testing of the data presented by various experts. The patent also approved claims for efficacy against five histogenic cancer lines.

2. The respect for my work in the international scientific community has led to my being invited to make presentations at a number of international scientific fora. The last such presentation was at the major drug research and development meeting in Beijing, China, on October 27 this year. I have also been invited to speak at several other fora which I rejected for commercial reasons.

3. Perhaps my proudest and most acclaimed recognition was the US government's grant of a special immigrant visa as a scientist of extraordinary ability, which was bestowed earlier this year.

I could also make mention of my local and international contributions to science and technology, but I only used the above to explain to Dr Aiken that I have credibility. One would have hoped that even though Dr Aiken is not a scientific researcher and may have limited knowledge and information in the area of scientific research, he would have at least informed himself before making such serious public statements in his official capacity. If his concerns were genuine, one would have also expected that he would have called me or any of my colleagues to discuss the areas of concern, and offered to assist for the sake of his discipline, and Jamaica in general.

Lack of vision

I also hope that I misread the sections of Dr Aiken's articles which suggested that he does not believe that there can be any cure for prostate cancer "in the foreseeable future". Such lack of hope and vision cannot be the appropriate approach of any medical doctor, let alone the head of a significant department of medicine at our leading learning institution. Is this the approach being taught to the medical students? Is this what is told to patients in early stages and who may have many more years to go contemplating whether to fight the disease?

I do hope that Dr Aiken will develop the ability to have and to convey hope for those under his care and those whom he mentors. I would urge his support for any effort that seeks to rid the land of this dreaded disease, regardless of where that effort comes from.

Finally, I wish to say in closing that objective criticism is always welcomed, especially with the helping hand. As Jamaicans, we need to support each other, since whatever is achieve socially, financially, or scientifically by any of us is for the benefit of all Jamaicans.

Dr Henry Lowe is executive chairman of the Environmental Health Foundation. Feedback may be sent to columns@gleanerjm.com