Last month, the Riordan Clinic announced a new use of intravenous vitamin C for the treatment of cancer. The announcement was made in the Journal of Translational Medicine and can be read in its entirety at the Translational Medicine organization’s website.
This collaborative effort by Oncologists and Alternative Medical Practitioners resulted in further confirmation of the possibility that vitamin C may be capable of addressing issues in cancer patients such as wasting (cachexia), immune suppression, and improving quality of life.
However, the FDA along with the Pharmaceutical industry as a whole, has been fighting against the use of intravenous Vitamin C for some time.
Treating Cancer with Vitamin C
The use of Vitamin C in the treatment of cancer has been the focal point of many studies. Using vitamin C in this manner has been a controversial point within the medical community, because while some studies have shown great success with vitamin C, other studies showed that vitamin C had no discernible effect.
The Riordan Clinic contends that the major difference between these studies is the use of intravenous vitamin C. The studies that used the intravenous vitamin C showed promising results, while the studies using oral vitamin C were the ones which showed poor results.
The Riordan paper also states that aside from improving the quality of life, intravenous vitamin C has also "revealed significant inhibition of tumor growth" in many types of cancers. Intravenous vitamin C seems to be successful at this because it is used in concentrations high enough to directly attack the tumor.
Even though this is promising research, it appears that the FDA is attempting to outlaw all intravenous vitamins, including vitamin C.
FDA's War Against Intravenous Vitamins
Earlier this year, the Alliance for Natural Health reported that the FDA notified a manufacturer of injectable vitamin C that it will be criminally prosecuted if it continues its manufacturing or distribution of the vitamin.
Many proponents of intravenous vitamin C state that this move is just another example of how the FDA is out to protect the profits of the pharmaceutical industry and not the interests of the American public.
In response to this criticism, the FDA issued a letter stating, “Unlike oral vitamin C—which could be a dietary supplement— these particular IV solutions are, by law, unapproved drugs.” The Food and Drug Administration went on to state:
The manufacturers neglected to follow current good manufacturing practices, potentially exposing users to unnecessary risks. . . Since FDA announced its Unapproved Drugs Initiative in June 2006, marketers of unapproved drugs have been on notice that addressing risks from unapproved drugs is a high priority for FDA, and that the Agency plans to systematically and responsibly ensure that all products on the U.S. prescription drug market become compliant with current FDA approval requirements for safety and efficacy.
However, critics argue this is not an issue of safety. Studies about vitamin C has proved, time and time again, that it is one of the safest vitamins on the market. They say the real issue is that vitamin C cannot be patented and; therefore, cannot undergo the approval process.
Many of these critics also believe that the FDA is hiding behind their approval process to further help the pharmaceutical industry keep their monopoly on cancer treating drugs.
Proving the Effectiveness of Intravenous Vitamin C
By using professionals from traditional and alternative medical fields, the Riordan Clinic hopes to bring intravenous vitamin C to the public eye and prove it as an effective tool against cancer.
Brian Riordan, CEO of the Riordan Clinic, said "The Riordan Clinic has been using intravenous vitamin C for decades; my personal mission is to seek input from colleagues in conventional oncology in order to figure out how we can collectively generate best treatment methods for our patients. This paper is a small step in what we anticipate will be many successful collaborations with our friends in conventional oncology practice.”
In the end, as with all potential medical solutions using alternative medicine, it will ultimately come down to a battle between the clinics and the FDA. If the evidence is overwhelming enough that intravenous Vitamin C is effective against Cancer, there will be little that even the FDA can do to squelch the public demand for the treatment.
Dennis Dufrene is the resident historian and technical writer. With this background, Dennis brings insight and accuracy to the stories published here at Top Secret Writers. Dennis has 314 post(s) at Top Secret Writers
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