Laetrile fails tests

Press, 2 May 1981, Page 6

Laetrile fails tests

NZP-- Washington Tests have shown that the controversial drug laetrile is not effective as a treatment for cancer, according to a United States Governmentfinanced study. The laetrile trial was sponsored by the National Cancer Institute in an effort to settle decades of controversy surrounding the substance, which is made from the pits of apricots and other fruits and nuts. “Laetrile has been tested, it is not effective,” Dr Charles Moertel, of the Mayo Clinic, told a meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology, the nation’s cancer specialists. The medically unaccepted drug first became popular in cancer treatment during the !Sisos and despite opposition ■from the Food and Drug Administration its use was declared legal by many courts and legislatures. Dr Moertel said that under the $555,000 National Institute of Health study, 164 patients with cancers that

had not responded to other treatment were given laetrile. Of these, 102 were now dead, nine months after the trials began at four medical centres. All the others had seriously progressive cancer which had not responded to laetrile treatment, he said. The tests were made with the same kind of laetrile, a derivative of apricot pits and almonds, Dr Moertel said. Laetrile produced no substantial benefits. It. pt-dyed ineffective in extending life span, relieving symptoms or improving the outcome of patients. At least 50,000 cancer victims had used laetrile, widely used in cancer clinics abroad and mostly smuggled into the United States from Mexico, doctors said.. The drug had been round for almost half a century and had been touted as an effective cancer treatment for about 30 years before the F.D.A. banned it. Animal tests generally showed that laetrile was

ineffective against cancer, said Dr Vincent Devita. director of the Cancer Institute, and most doctors and scientists did not believe it works. The Canterbury-Westland Division of the Cancer Society reacted cautiously to the first news of the trial results. The division's- secretary, Mr D. J. Craze, said that the society would certainly be warning people to be careful when considering using laetrile treatment. A division executive member. Dr P. R. Kelleher, said that the society had been waiting for the results of this survey, which showed that laetrile was an ineffective method, of cancer treatment. Dr Keßfeher said that restrictions on the drug would be unlikely 'to do any good but that -people should be warned that it would be unwise for them to bank on laetrile treatment. He said that people would be advised by the society to keep to orthodox methods