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Comment by Izkata | Hacker News Reader

[not what the article is about, but related topic]

I first heard of dichloroacetic acid about 15 years ago - a cheap drug that also killed cancer cells by allowing mitochondria to induce apoptosis in the cancer cells and not in healthy cells.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dichloroacetic_acid#Cancer

It doesn't appear to have gotten a lot of research into what would be a safe dosage, seemingly because it's an old drug that can no longer be patented.

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https://cancerquest.org/patients/integrative-oncology/dichlo...

  However, in some systems DCA has been shown to PROTECT cancer cells from death. In research with colon cancer cells, DCA prevented the death of the cells in the laboratory and in animals.28  In mice with neuroblastoma, DCA enhanced the growth of tumor cells.29  Another study showed mixed results: DCA did not slow down tumor growth in mice, though it did make it harder for cancerous cells to spread (metastasize).30

Formulations, therapies, techniques, etc can be patented even if an active ingredient can't be patented. Similarly, modification to structures, prodrugs, etc can be patented, too.

Infuriating. Can we not get public research universities to fund this research???

or even to just research what are non lethal doses, and set it free

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