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JNCI Journal of the National Cancer Institute 2002 94(17):1261-1262; doi:10.1093/jnci/94.17.1261
© 2002 by Oxford University Press
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Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 94, No. 17, 1261-1262, September 4, 2002
© 2002 Oxford University Press

EDITORIAL

PC-SPES–A Lesson for Future Dietary Supplement Research

Jeffrey White

Correspondence to: Jeffrey White, M.D., National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Executive Plaza North, Rm. 102, 6130 Executive Blvd., Bethesda, MD 20892 (e-mail: jeffreyw@mail.nih.gov).

The first 10% of the full text of this article appears below.

In the past few years, the herbal mixture PC-SPES had become one of the best prospects for an alternative medicine cancer treatment that would be able to stand up to the intense scrutiny of biomedical research. Previously, the failure to perform adequately in well-designed clinical trials negated further research on alternative medicine products such as laetrile and hydrazine sulfate. Now, with the report by Sovak et al. in this issue of the Journal (1), the fatal flaw with PC-SPES is in the more fundamental issue of product integrity.

Although legally sold in the United States as a dietary supplement for "prostate health," PC-SPES was in fact an alternative medicine treatment for prostate cancer (the PC in the name stands for prostate cancer and spes is Latin for hope). After its release in 1996, the product rapidly became known throughout . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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