A drug derived from shark cartilage does not improve the overall survival of lung-cancer patients, according to the results of a study published this week in the U.S.-based Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
The clinical trial, led by Charles Lu at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, involved 379 patients at hospitals throughout the United States and Canada. About half the patients were given the shark derivative, called AE-941 or Neovastat, while the balance got a placebo. All the patients also received standard chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
"Clearly these results demonstrate that AE-941 is not an effective therapeutic agent for lung cancer," Dr. Lu said in a statement. "So, too, these findings have to cast major skepticism on shark-cartilage products that are being sold for profit and have no data to support their efficacy as cancer-fighting agent."
Even so, an editorial accompanying the study argues that AE-941 may still "be worthy of further investigation" because all the questions posed by the alternative treatment can't be answered by a single study.
Popular interest in shark-cartilage supplements took off in the early 1990s with the publication of the book Sharks Don't Get Cancer by William Lane. The book's title, however, is a bit misleading because sharks do, indeed, get cancer.
AE-941, made by Quebec-based Aeterna Zentaris Inc., is available only to patients in clinical trials and cannot be purchased commercially.