Burzynski Clinic - Antineoplaston Therapy

Antineoplaston Therapy

Antineoplaston is a name coined by Stanislaw Burzynski for a group of peptides, peptide derivatives, and mixtures that he uses as an alternative cancer treatment. The word is derived from neoplasm,

Antineoplaston therapy has been offered in the US since 1984 but is not approved for general use due to lack of clinical evidence. The compounds are not licensed as drugs but are instead sold and administered by as part of clinical trials at the Burzynski Clinic and the Burzynski Research Institute. Although Burzynski and his associates claim success in the use of antineoplaston combinations for the treatment of various diseases, there is no evidence of clinical efficacy of these methods. Oncologists have described Burzynski's studies as flawed, with one doctor stating that they are "scientific nonsense". In particular, independent scientists have been unable to reproduce the positive results reported in Burzynski's studies.

There is no convincing evidence from any randomized controlled trial that antineoplastons are useful for the treatment of cancer. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not approved antineoplastons for the treatment of any disease. The American Cancer Society has found no evidence that antineoplastons have any beneficial effects in cancer, and it has recommended that people do not spend money on antineoplaston treatments. A 2004 medical review described this treatment as a "disproven therapy".

Burzynski stated that he began investigating the use of antineoplastons after detecting what he considered significant differences in peptides between the blood of cancer patients and a control group. Burzynski first identified antineoplastons from human blood. Since similar peptides had been isolated from urine, in 1970 Burzynski initially purified urine as a bulk source of antineoplastons. Since 1980 he has been reproducing his compounds synthetically.

The first active peptide fraction identified was called antineoplaston A-10 (3-phenylacetylamino-2,6-piperidinedione). From A-10, antineoplaston AS2-1, a 4:1 mixture of phenylacetic acid and phenylacetylglutamine, was derived. The website of the Burzynski clinic states that the active ingredient of antineoplaston A10-I is phenylacetylglutamine.