Liquid Shark Cartilage Extracts

Liquid Shark Cartilage Extracts Show Encouraging Results Without Serious Side Effects Related To Oral Administration.

On March 26, 2001, Æterna Laboratories, a leading Canadian biotechnology company, reported that phase I/II data indicate that a high dose of the company's oral anti-angiogenesis product Æ-941 (Neovastat) doubles the median survival time for patients with refractory metastatic kidney cancer. For more information, see our page on the Latest Developments in Shark Cartilage Technology.

This development captured national media attention. Charlene Liano, MSNBC Health Editor, reported this development which can be viewed on MSNBC's web site in the article entitled "Shark Cartilage Extract Promising." The article is reprinted below:

NEW ORLEANS, March 26 — Patients with advanced kidney cancer given an extract of shark Cartilage lived twice as long as would be expected if they hadn't taken the fishy concoction, a small pilot study shows. And three patients — all of whom failed to respond to all standard cancer treatments and probably would have died within eight months — are still alive 31 months after treatment began, researchers said.
THE EXTRACT, a product made from the Cartilage of the common dogfish shark that is prepared differently than the shark Cartilage pills sold in some natural food stores and over the Internet, is also showing promise in patients with advanced lung and blood cell cancers, said principal investigator Dr. Gerald Batist, a cancer doctor at McGill University in Montreal.
Its anti-cancer fighting properties: four chemicals that are what scientists called anti-angiogenesis factors — substances that literally starve the lifelines of tumors, he said.
The product, known as Neovastat, is among the most promising entries into the fashionable field of anti-angiogenesis agents, said Dr. William Li, clinical instructor of medicine at Harvard and head of the non-profit Angiogenesis Foundation in Cambridge, Mass.

The development of anti-angiogenesis drugs capped a 30-year research process that began when Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard Medical School had the hypothesis in the 1970s that tumors cannot grow or spread without a steady blood supply to feed them
By developing drugs that block the formation of new vessels, Folkman reasoned, you would eliminate the flow of blood to tumors, much like chopping a plant off at its roots. And without nutrients, tumors, like plants, would be prevented from growing much bigger than a pinhead.
In the past few years, dozens of anti-angiogenesis drugs have entered clinical trials, although none has yet been approved for use as an anti-cancer agent in the United States. But Pierre Falardeau, vice president of scientific affairs at Aeterna, which manufactures the shark Cartilage extract, said if all goes as planned, the drug could be available by prescription within a year or two.
The drug is "extremely interesting and promising," said Li, a former student of Folkman's. "This the first anti-angiogenesis agent to show a statistically significant — that is, not due to chance — increase in survival in a group of critically ill patients."
Extending survival is the Holy Grail of this class of drugs, Li explained. "Of the more than 50 agents in clinical trials, Neovastat is among the elite dozen that have made it to the final stages of human testing and the first to actually show improved survival."
Neovastat is also noteworthy for its triple mode of action against the growth of new blood vessels to feed a tumor, he said.
The drug blocks a growth factor that signals tumor cells to recruit new blood vessels, inhibits an enzyme needed for cancer cells to invade new tissue, and stimulates cancer cell death, according to Li.
Cartilage THE KEY
Shark Cartilage was originally studied as it was thought that sharks don't develop cancer and thus must contain anti-cancer agents. Ironically, even though it's since been shown that sharks do develop cancer after all, Cartilage was found to be a rich source of anti-angiogenesis factors, Falardeau said.
"The Cartilage can be from any species — chickens, fish, whatever," he said. "But sharks are a good source because they are abundant in waters worldwide and widely fished for their meat, with the Cartilage normally discarded."
The spines of about 100 dogfish sharks are needed to treat one cancer patient for one year, according to Falardeau. The Cartilage is crushed up and purified into a liquid that is then frozen. The patient thaws the pint-sized drink — described as "fishy" tasting — before drinking it twice a day.
In preparing Neovastat, the researchers use a patented biochemical method to treat the Cartilage in such a way that it releases the anti-angiogenesis factors.
STUDY DETAILS
The study, presented here Monday at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, enrolled 22 patients with advanced kidney cancer that had spread to other parts of the body and could not be helped by any conventional therapy. Surgery to remove the kidney had failed to stop the cancer from spreading and neither radiation nor chemotherapy successfully killed off remaining cancer cells.
Eight patients treated with a low dose of the drug lived an average of 7.1 months, compared to 16.3 months for 14 patients receiving a higher dose. For a patient with this advanced cancer who does not respond to standard treatments, the expected survival time is approximately eight months, Li said.
On the basis of the results, all surviving patients have since been given the higher dose: Three are still alive, including one who had developed a tumor on her head that completely disappeared.
No significant side effects were observed in the patients.
The trial was funded by Aeterna. The National Cancer Institute found the results promising enough that it is funding a larger study in patients with lung cancer, Falardeau said. Trials are
also underway in patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood.

BioTherapies, Inc. Announces Development of Cartilade LED, a Liquid Shark Cartilage Extract Nutritional Supplement

BioTherapies Inc., of Fairfield New Jersey, makers of Cartilade® brand shark Cartilage rejoiced at the recent confirmation by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that shark Cartilage contains active anti-cancer principles. BioTherapies Inc. (formerly Cartilage Technologies Inc.) has manufactured and sold Cartilade® in the retail market for the past eight years. Cartilade, manufactured under a patent issued to Dr. I. William Lane, author of the book, "SHARKS DON'T GET CANCER" was the first shark Cartilage product on the market and continues to be the world's leading brand of shark Cartilage .

BioTherapies Inc. and Cartilage Technologies Inc., have, for several years, held the patent rights for shark Cartilage as an inhibitor of angiogenesis, a process of unwanted blood vessel growth in several diseases including cancer. Cartilade®, a 100% pure shark Cartilage product, was used in clinical trials for cancer in Cuba. These trials using Cartilade® fueled widespread interest in shark Cartilage as a potential cancer cure after they were reported by Mike Wallace on the TV show "60 Minutes" in 1994.

In keeping with their continued research and development of innovative Shark Cartilage technologies, BioTherapies has recently announced the development of Cartilade LED, a newly patented liquid shark Cartilage extract. Cartilade LED is a hydrosoluble extract of 100% Cartilade® shark Cartilage , containing Cartilage proteins and complex polysaccharides from shark Cartilage . Available as a dietary supplement, Cartilade LED is marketed in 10-fluid-ounce bottle. The suggested dosage is one third fluid ounce per day, meaning that one 10-ounce bottle will constitute a 30-day supply. The retail price of Cartilade LED is $99.

According to Stephen Holt, M.D., the author of "The Power of Cartilage ," "the press has made premature conclusions about the lack of benefit for Cartilade.'' Holt went on to state: "For many years shark Cartilage has been known to contain antiangiogenic proteins, but there has been an issue about the ability of these proteins to enter the body when shark Cartilage is administered by the oral route". Dr. Holt believes that the inconsistent response to the oral administration of powdered shark Cartilage in some cancer clinical trials may have been related to unpredictable arid variable absorption of the active, anti-cancer principles that are present in powdered shark Cartilage . BioTherapies Inc., developed Cartilade LED to enhance the oral delivery of Cartilade® to help ensure better absorption of active constituents.

BioTherapies is planning new clinical trials with oral Cartilade LED in a format that may help enhance absorption and they are approaching the pharmaceutical industry and the biotechnology industry for assistance in further researching the potential benefits of Cartilade LED. Mr. Richard McNall, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at BioTherapies/Cartilage Technologies Inc. stated: "Our company is delighted by the news that Cartilage protein may form the basis of a credible cancer cure. The reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Harvard researchers have given people new hope and the involvement of the company Boston Life Sciences and others is a real boost to natural health care."

Atrium Biotechnologies, subsidiary of Æterna Laboratories Inc., is now marketing CARTCELL®, a Frozen liquid shark Cartilage extract nutritional supplement.

In 1999, a clinical human study of CarTCell® was published in the peer reviewed Journal of Surgical Research (volume 87, pp. 108–113). The double-blind study (which included a placebo) showed that CarTCell® could be assimilated via the oral route. It is the first time that such bioavailability has been demonstrated for a Cartilage extract in a rigorous scientific study.

Using advanced techniques of cellular and molecular biology, CARTCELL® is manufactured using a patent pending process that breaks up the cell membrane and extracts selected shark Cartilage proteins. This process yields a highly bioavailable, easily absorbed product.

CARTCELL® is concentrated and purified at low temperature, then kept frozen until ready to use, and therefore keeping intact the active properties of shark Cartilage .

Atrium Biotechnologies' process of cell fractionation, by hypotonic shock, breaks-up the cell membrane. The selected shark Cartilage proteins are then filtered according to molecular weight and concentrated. The extract is then frozen for preservation of the proteins' original structure. All manufacturing steps of CARTCELL®--from shark capture and protein extraction, to bottling of the end product--are performed at low temperature ( less than 4 degrees C/40 degrees F ).

Through this "Cold Line" process, the shark Cartilage is never subjected to temperatures that might alter its properties and activity. Easily absorbed through the mucosa of the mouth, proteins contained in CARTCELL® are absorbed through muscosa of the mouth. By avoiding the enzymatic degradation of the digestive system, proteins are not digested and their properties are preserved. Atrium Biotechnologies calculates that a single vial (7ml / 0.24 fl. oz) of CARTCELL® provides the equivalent of an entire daily dose of 60 to 80 grams of shark Cartilage powder (up to 105 pills).

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