Lifeline – The Case for Effective Cancer Immunotherapy

This is my first blog. It is about my most recent publication, the literary non-fiction book “Lifeline – The Case for Effective Cancer Immunotherapy” published under my writer’s name T.S.Aguilar (ISBN 978-0-9687711-4-3 / e-book) (ISBN 978-0-9687711-3-6 / paperback).

The paperback as well as the e-book version are available via a whole slew of on-line retailers and can be ordered in regular bookstores. (A list of on-line retailers follows at bottom of this blog entry.)

The paperback version has received some very encouraging endorsements:

• A molecular biology researcher specialising in oncology wrote, “Your book is fantastic. I’ve been very happy about it.”
• An academic linguist stated, “Very well written with subtly ironic humour at times. Very interesting to read; the message is clear.”
• An author and critic wrote, “I’m so glad you’ve written a book on the cancer issue. The book needs to be published to help others.”

However, I have to admit that my book is not easily digestible literary fodder. I shed light on the gloomy aspects of current cancer treatment and the pharmaceutical industry’s focus on profit maximisation instead of finding a cure for cancer. Yet, it concludes with the positive news about ongoing cancer research and the work of cancer centres, biopharmaceutical companies, and universities developing a cure. As I state in the final sentence of my preamble, writing this book was like passing through a dark valley of death into the glimmer of hope of a new day.

So, what purpose does this book serve and what is it all about?

Well, the intended purpose is to provide hope for millions of cancer patients. Very encouraging results of some immunotherapies have shown that medical R&D is on the threshold of finding a cure for all types of cancer. The promising immunotherapies cater to energising and strengthening a patient’s innate immune system to enable it to fight all antigens including cancer cells and tumours without causing a deadly autoimmune response or harming healthy cells, tissue, and organs.

I went through the harrowing experience of being the caregiver of my wife after she was diagnosed with cancer. Like all other people with cancer as well as their families and caregivers who pin their hopes on being cured, we had to learn that current cancer treatments do not cure – they palliate, i.e. make the disease at best less severe without removing the cause and still have the inevitable outcome of cancer recurrence and death of the patient. My wife died after a nineteen month struggle, utterly ineffective treatment procedures, and the doctors’ refusal to explore every avenue of treatment still available to at least extend, if not to save her life.

I wrote down my wife’s case history based on her diary entries and my notes as well as medical reports. As I extended my research globally, I read some shocking reports documenting the lack of efficacy of most cancer medications. Thus, I had to delve into the murky business practices of the pharmaceutical industry and inadequate health care systems in my search for answers concerning current cancer medications and treatment. In the process I learned not only why Big Pharma at least appears to commit fraud and a massive rip-off of patients and health insurance, but also about the corruptibility and corruption of a majority of medical practitioners as well as many academic institutes in their pursuit of profiting from the promotion, prescription, and sale of useless medications to cancer patients and their families. Furthermore, I noticed that only media and journalists that are not dependent on the advertising revenue and largesse of the pharmaceutical industry will provide hard-hitting investigative reports to reveal unpalatable facts about ineffective and outrageously overpriced medications and treatment. It shed some light on the unsustainable promises of what allegedly can be achieved with what recognised oncology experts call the “cut, burn and poison” method of surgery, radio- and chemotherapy.

In this respect consider the last available figures for cancer diagnoses and deaths dating back to the year 2018, the ‘good old days’ when cancer had not been relegated to the status of ‘also ran’ behind the other ‘Big C’, namely Covid-19. The World Health Organization’s (WHO) official tabulation shows that in that year 9,555,027 patients or 52.8% of the 18,078,957 people diagnosed globally with cancer died after having been “effectively treated” with surgery and/or radio- and chemotherapy. Don’t rejoice yet thinking that the remaining 47.2% of ‘survivors’ have been cured and will not die. They are in all likelihood in the regression period of 5 years on average and their cancer will recur. Reliable and official figures for 2019 are not yet available. In line with the WHO’s forecast it is safe to assume that it exceeds 20 million diagnoses and 10.5 million deaths. What the cancer figures for 2020 will be is anybody’s guess due to hospitals and health care centres being overwhelmed with the task of saving the lives of patients infected with the corona virus. Health care officials in North America and Europe have noticed that many people with cancer symptoms in need of diagnosis as well as cancer patients in need of treatment refuse to go hospitals out of fear of being infected with the corona virus. That explains why the cancer figures for 2020 will be anybody’s guess.

The corona virus pandemic dominates the headlines of news outlets around the world. That is quite understandable with over 90 million people infected with the virus and 2 million people globally having succumbed to Covid-19 in less than one year (at the time of this writing). Add to that the reports of a vast number of civilians killed in ongoing military conflicts, the potential starvation of millions of children and adults in critical areas of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, the looming climate crisis that threatens to spell the demise of yet millions more people, and the rising number of drug addicts dying from an overdose and it becomes clear why cancer has been relegated, so to speak, to a lower level of importance. Despite all the often very tragic news, cancer with a far higher number of deaths should not be forgotten as Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales, pointed out in his highly accurate report of late December 2020. Yet, it appears that the main stream media still adheres to the old journalistic adage, “If it bleeds, it leads”. Since cancer has been plaguing humanity forever, it is therefore in all probability hardly considered newsworthy by the majority of hacks.

After encountering all these negative news and reports about current cancer treatment and medications, I had to investigate immunotherapies. The conclusion is that they provide the only hope for an effective cancer cure. But in all honesty, going from current cancer treatment that has been pursued for the past 100 years with little effect in total to immunotherapies that actually cure cancer is a quantum leap of immense proportions. That will be resisted by Big Pharma with everything at its disposal since it could result in the total loss of their present clientele and the multi-billion dollars of annual profits.

Digging yet deeper into Big Pharma’s resistance, I came across various reports about so-called “Orphan Medications”, generic over-the-counter medications available at very modest prices. In prospective and pre-clinical trials it was shown that they help to prevent metastasis and even result in the apoptosis of cancer cells and tumours when used as an adjunct medication. Thus, they could bridge the aforementioned quantum leap from current cancer treatment to effective immunotherapies. But in order of these medications to be accepted for cancer treatment, they would have to undergo large scale empirical clinical trials. And that, once more, is actively resisted by Big Pharma as well as the governments of the countries where the medications are investigated by refusing to provide the required funding for such trials. It needed public outrage and the demands of acknowledged scientists for at least one of these medicines to receive the minimal funding for an empirical clinical trial that could turn out to be a complete game-changer. And that’s a start.

Despite the R&D of most of immunotherapies still being at a stage of ‘infancy’, several remarkable results have been achieved to date. They include a cure without side effects and no sign of recurrence after more than five years of a terminal stage cancer patient. But the warning was issued that this treatment is highly experimental and needs a lot more research to be applicable to a wider range of patients. Other immunotherapies are undergoing early trials with effective results so far but not yet at the stage of final trials. The scientists of these projects are very humble admitting that they are still in the development phase. What impressed me most, was the clarity of vision of practically all researchers as to what path they have to follow to achieve the desired outcome. That, to say the least, is very heartening.

Finally, I can report a surprising confluence of the novel cancer immunotherapy vaccine R&D and the results achieved with the coronavirus vaccine based on mRNA (messenger ribonucleic acid). It was made public after my book was published: The founders of BioNTech, Uğur Şahin, Özlem Türeci, and Christoph Huber, stated in a recent interview that it was their research of cancer vaccines and the insight thus gained that allowed them to develop the BioNTech/Pfizer coronavirus vaccine so quickly. Their direct competitor, the German biopharmaceutical research company, CureVac, that was first to detect the therapeutic potential of mRNA and use it to develop a cancer vaccine, is also undergoing final trials of its corona virus vaccine. It will be interesting to learn if the CureVac researchers as well will state that their cancer vaccine research helped them to develop their Covid vaccine once they can announce final results. I hope that both companies will continue their respective R&D of cancer vaccines and can gain some insights from the successful development of the Covid vaccines.

A final note: I have pledged to donate 50% of my author’s royalties to the research of immunotherapies and “Orphan Medications”. That means that anyone buying my book will automatically contribute to funding the research.

Here’s a list of on-line booksellers that offer the e-book and/or paperback:

Amazon, Apple, Barnes & Noble Nook, 24Symbols, Bibliotheca, BibliU.com, Bolinda, Bookmate, Booktopia, ChaptersIndigo, Chegg, De Marque, eBooks.com, EBSCO, fable, Follett/B&T, Gardners, Glose, hoopla, Hummingbird, ITSI, Kobo Plus, Libreka, Libri.de, LitRes, LIX, Mackin, Odilo, OverDrive, Perlego, Perusall, ProQuest, Publica, RedShelf, Scribd, SpoonRead, Storytel, VitalSource, Waterstones, WF Howes, Wheelers, Wook, and YouScribe.

Blogs for my other books (novels) will follow shortly. In the meantime, feel free to comment my meanderings or send me your questions.