“Government, deception, and a classic medical fraud”: Excerpt from new book on cancer treatment fraud

Once upon a time there was a drug called Carbiozin;

It came under the horizon.

It will be said, by the sick now dead,

What are we relying on now?

– Limerick is attributed to University of Illinois President George Stord and University of Illinois Provost Coleman Griffith, both of whom would lose their jobs over Kerbiozen.

It’s a story that resonates today: the cancer treatment hoax of the 1950s that demonstrated “accusations of conspiracy, elitism, and un-Americanism against the educational, scientific, and medical establishment are not new; nor are the About non-critical news coverage that is interesting, we are pleased to share an adapted quote from Matthew Ehrlich The Carbuzine Hoax: How a Mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Regulated Medicineout today.

On March 26, 1951, a prominent American scientist convened a meeting at the Drake Hotel in Chicago to make a dramatic announcement: He and an immigrant doctor from Yugoslavia had discovered a drug that showed great promise in treating cancer. . The scientist was Andrew Ivey, vice president of the University of Illinois (U of I) and appointed spokesman for medical ethics at the Nazi war crimes trials at Nuremberg. Time magazine pronounced him “the conscience of American science”. Ivy’s Yugoslav counterpart was Stevan Durovic, who is said to have discovered the new drug in Argentina after the Nazis forced him to flee his country. The drug itself is called carbiozin, a name that means “cancer suppressor” or “growth regulator.”

Karbyozin has opened up to people around the world with electricity. Cancer patients and their loved ones flooded the U of I with thousands of phone calls and messages pleading for the drug. One doctor opined that “carbiozin may be one of the greatest discoveries in medical history, if not the greatest”. But other representatives of regulated medicine were immediately suspicious. Virtually none of them had heard of Stevan Durwick or his brother Marko, who had followed Stevan to Chicago to promote Krebs. Steven had never published in a scientific journal. Dureaux even refused to reveal to Andrew Ivey exactly how the drug was made, other than that it involved stimulating the horses’ immune systems and drawing their blood. Instead of using the traditional means of announcing a new scientific discovery—through academic venues subject to rigorous peer review—Ivy had staged the product launch, with wealthy benefactors and prominent politicians from Chicago and the state of Illinois. Members of the press were invited. In addition, although Ivy denied any prior knowledge of this, the meeting was promoted by the release of a sensational news: “The battle of medical science to find a cure for cancer received its realization today.” Within months, the American Medical Association (AMA) announced that a review of patient case histories showed that carbazine was ineffective; Later, one president, George Starrard, insisted that there was no such thing as Kerbyuzin.

Ivy and Durovics fight back. They accused the AMA of conspiring with powerful business interests to kill Karbyuzin after failing to take control. Illinois lawmakers, some of whom despised Stoddard for his liberalism and seeming high-handedness, began a long series of hearings on conspiracy charges and the state university’s possible involvement in drug busts. Stoddard and one I provost, Coleman Griffith, were removed from their administrative posts. In the following years, the controversy spread beyond Illinois as Kirbyuzin championship groups were formed across the country. Movie star Gloria Swanson raised money for drugs; Environmentalist Rachel Carson took the drug to try to fight her cancer. Pro-Crabois protestors (some wearing badges saying, “I need Corbyuzin to live!”) were arrested outside the White House and escorted out of federal offices. Along with members of Congress, they lobbied hard for what they called “fair drug testing.” However, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which had just been given expanded powers, declared that carbozin did nothing to prevent cancer. Ivy and Durovics are accused of defrauding people into paying about $10 per ampoule of the drug. After a nine-month trial in Chicago that ended in early 1966, the defendants were acquitted, with the jury convicted of tampering with the jury. Carbiozin then sank back under the horizon, to be replaced by other unproven drugs for the treatment of cancer and other medical ailments.

The Kerbyuzin story shows that accusations of conspiracy, elitism, and un-Americanism against the educational, scientific, and medical establishment are not new. Neither is uncritical news coverage of what turns out to be quackery. And Kribiuzin was indeed ruthless: it exhibited all the characteristics that historian James Harvey Young identified as the epitome of medical fraud. Carbozin’s sponsors took advantage of the fear of painful surgery and radiation to promote a non-toxic wonder cure that they maintained was the scientific key to curing cancer. They insisted that the full details of the drug’s composition and production were a trade secret. Proponents of medicine frequently compare Andrew Ivey to Louis Pasteur and other visionaries whose scientific breakthroughs were initially overshadowed by mainstream medicine. Carbuzzin supporters also alleged that the AMA had conspired to destroy the drug, allegations that had previously been made by cancer codes such as Norman Baker and Harry Hoxey. Evidence suggested that after Stevan Durovitch failed to get support for a high blood pressure drug he called “Cosetrin,” he turned the same compound into a cancer drug called “Carbiozin”—the A renaming to match the circumstances. The drug was advertised through such means as Pulp magazine’s miraculous results experienced by cancer patients: “To die for – they still live!” Pro-drug advocates declared that they stood for health care freedom, constantly undermining the AMA, the FDA, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Over time, according to bank records introduced in the fraud trial, Kerbiozen became a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Kerbyuzin’s story was not without good intentions or good ideas. Before his involvement with drugs, Andrew Ivey was the last person anyone would compare to Baker or Hoxie. Instead, he was more like Linus Pauling, the last proponent of vitamin C as a cancer treatment. Ivey was widely recognized as a distinguished scientist with an impeccable academic record. Few have suggested that he promoted Krabiuzin just to get rich, as opposed to Stefan Durovitch, who would be accused by the US government of taking large sums of money out of the country and depositing it in foreign accounts. Ivey always insisted that he only wanted to get an unbiased test of a hypothesis that he said he had developed from the existing scientific literature: that people have a natural cancer inhibitor in them, most likely a hormone produced by the reticuloendothelial system. . (Proponents of Carbiozin said that cancer patients need the drug to manage their conditions just as diabetics need insulin to manage their glucose levels.) Recent cancer research has suggested that, in some ways, At least Ivy was on the right track. Scientists have discovered the existence of anti-tumor genes. Studies have linked insulin and other hormones to cancer metabolism. And one of the most promising new areas of research and treatment — immunotherapy — uses the body’s natural defenses against cancer.

What’s more, carbazine users weren’t all ruthless thieves. Many felt abandoned by mainstream medicine or, like Rachel Carson, misled by their doctors about the severity of their conditions. For them, Carbiozin seems to be a reasonable choice. “I don’t expect miracles,” said Carson of Kerbiozen. “As far as I’ve been able to learn it won’t hurt, so what do I have to lose?” If people later decide that the drug isn’t working for them (as was the case with Carson), they can simply stop taking it. Other cancer patients and their loved ones believed that Carbiozin was the one thing that kept them alive.

In the end, though, Kerbiozen turned out to be a hoax, unless it was planned that way. The drug will always remain a mystery drug that has never been scientifically proven to be effective. Steven Durwich blocked efforts by federal agencies to witness drug production from start to finish. The patient records intended to demonstrate the efficacy of carbiozin have never met the criteria set forth by the NCI to justify clinical trials of the drug. Ultimately, Durovitch and Ivey would lose some of their most steadfast allies after they repeatedly failed to keep their promises to Kirbyuzin. Still, the scam has been going on for years – too many people want to believe the drug works.

from The Carbuzine Hoax: How a Mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Regulated Medicine Copyright 2024 by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Used by permission of the University of Illinois Press.

Matthew C. Ehrlich is a professor of journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has previously published five books including Dangerous Ideas on Campus: Sex, Conspiracy, and Academic Freedom in the Age of JFK and Kansas City vs. Oakland: The Better Sports Rivalry That Defined an Era.

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