Many berries are known for their incredible health benefits, including their ability to reduce cancer risk. But a berry that can actually cure cancer? Now that’s a new one.
EBC46 is a berry found on Australia’s Blushwood tree that is showing incredible success in its ability to cure various forms of cancer and tumours. Scientists have isolated a chemical from the berry of a Australian plant endemic only to one region of Australia and have demonstrated promising early results regarding the compound’s ability to destroy tumors in mice, cats, dogs, and horses through direct injections; clinical trials are currently underway for its use in animals and humans.
Dr. Glen Boyle, the lead author of that study, told ABC News (Australia) in 2014.
The compound works by three ways essentially: it kills the tumour cells directly, it cuts off the blood supply and it also activates the body’s own immune system to clean up the mess that’s left behind.
Since then they seem to have come a long way.
Now referred to as EBC46, the compound was initially discovered when a small marsupial in the forest was eating the fruit berry of a plant called Fontainea picrosperma. But it became uneasy and spit out the berry, likely because of a burning sensation experienced due to inflammation caused by the berry. The Brisbane-based researchers of QBiotics take these types of observations and isolate plants that show characteristics of interest, transferring them to a laboratory for more in depth analysis for potential pharmaceutical applications. The researchers isolated EBC46 from the berry spit out by the marsupial, and the rest is history.
The team released the results of their first clinical trials of EBC46, revealing the successful outcomes of the drug derived from the seeds of the rainforest Blushwood tree.
In the study, eight cancer patients from across Australia were tested with the drug, and as the Cairns Post points out, the outcome proved successful, with four different types of tumours including melanoma, squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, and breast adenocarcinoma all being treated. It was noted that none of the patients showed any negative side effects from the drug.
“Our last patient – which was our melanoma patient – we had total tumour destruction in both of the tumours that we treated,” QBiotics CEO Dr. Victoria Gordon said.
Now, it’s only one patient, and obviously not repeatable, but this is indeed a major cancer discovery that is showing a lot of potential.
“We’re very happy about that.
“Within seven days, the tumours were gone.
“The exciting thing is the drugs are responding in exactly the same way in tumours in cats and dogs and horses.
“It’s proving our theory that it’s not species-specific, and it’s not tumour-specific either, because it’s actually working in a range of tumours.”
Gordon was particularly enthralled with the melanoma results, as her father died from the disease. In fact, both her parents died from cancer, and her sister passed away three years ago from liver cancer.
QBiotics is now moving forward with its plans in international veterinary-cancer markets after the approval from the US Centre for Veterinary Medicine for additional studies on the effects EBC46 has on canine mast cell tumours. The approval study, which will include 10 investigative sites and 120 cases for the treatment of the tumours, will mark the last clinical step to use the product on canines in the U.S.
Upon completion of the study, Gordon said the company would request regulatory approval from the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority to ensure the drug became commercially available for the domestic vet market.
The mysterious Blushwood berry that could mark a major breakthrough in cancer grows only in one region of the entire world: the rainforests of Far North Queensland, Australia. To thrive, the trees hosting the berry require extremely specific growing conditions.
But the latest cancer research has people wondering if perhaps the trees could be grown in a greenhouse environment to ensure the medicinal berries could be more easily accessed for their cancer-killing properties.