My name is Kendra Gilbert. I am from Frankfort, MI. I was diagnosed with an inoperable Grade III Anaplastic Astrocytoma at the age of 22. After a second opinion from Mayo Clinic, the only options offered to me were radiation and chemo. At the University of Michigan I received six weeks of radiation and in the last two weeks I also received chemo combined with the radiation. I was then advised to take a new drug called Temodar. I later discovered that this drug was approved by the FDA after a European phase III study of 573 people where the drug had increased the patients’ lives by up to two months. I started taking the drug but it did make me pretty ill and after four months of it, I stopped. According to all the research at that time, my prognosis was a one to three year life expectancy with the median being fifteen months. My tumor was still there and all the bad cells were still alive. After many prayers, my parents received a book called “The Burzynski Breakthrough” from a friend (someone I refer to as an angel). After reading the book, my parents called the Burzynski Clinic and found out I was eligible for a Broad Spectrum Phase II Clinical Trial for antineoplastins. Part of my eligibility was the fact that I had already received chemo and radiation. The sad part about this requirement is that Dr. Burzynski has proven greater success when patients haven’t had to go through chemo or radiation. Dr. Burzynski continues to be forced to have his patients undergo this regiment to participate in his antineoplastin clinical trials. I feel this prerequisite is there simply to cloud and cast doubt on the efficacy of his work.
I started the antineoplastin (broad spectrum gene-targeted) therapy in September of 2007 and by the lst of December, 2007, my third party tests results showed that the cells in the tumor were dying. I continued on this intravenous treatment for a total of fifteen months. After the cells were determined to all be dead, I continued on a pill form of antineoplastins until September of 2009, for a total of nine months in case there might be a rogue cell out there that was missed. I continue to receive MRI’s every so many months and in September of 2013, I will have been cancer free for five years.
I don’t understand how a drug like Temodar, with such a small random study that only produced a two month increase in the life of patients in Europe could be approved by the FDA and widely used and accepted as a treatment. And yet, the FDA continues to force Dr. Burzynski in the United States to complete a level three clinical trial before his antineoplastins can be brought to the market. It seems entirely political over who owns the intellectual property rights as opposed to a genuine concern to discover a cure. Dr. Burzynski’s work has extended life considerably beyond two months.
