Letter from John E. Fogarty to Joe R. Albi
- Contributor(s):
- Albi, Joe R. Phillips Memorial Library, Special and Archival Collections at Providence College Fogarty, John Edward, 1913-1967
- Publication:
- Produced: 3 June 1959
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Genre(s):
- Archival Materials Letters (correspondence)
- Abstract:
- Mr. Albi, another Krebiozen believer, had written to protest NCI's refusal to do clinical trials to assess its cancer-curing properties. Fogarty's reply incorporated material provided by Dr. J. R. Heller, director of NCI, and illustrates how complicated the Krebiozen story became. Krebiozen was an alternative cancer "cure" promoted in the 1940s and 1950s by Dr. Stevan Durovic and Dr. Andrew Ivy. They claimed amazing cure rates and had testimonials from patients, along with support from some politicians. When hospitals and cancer centers tried the treatment, they could not reproduce Ivy's results. The Journal of the American Medical Association published a summary of the negative clinical studies in 1951; Ivy and Durovic claimed this was a conspiracy against them. The National Cancer Institute and the FDA tested samples of Krebiozen and found it was just creatine (an amino acid) dissolved in mineral oil. Ivy and Durovic were convicted of marketing mislabeled drugs in 1964. Like many politicians, Fogarty received numerous queries from constituents about Krebiozen, and asked Heller, director of NCI, to provide current information he could pass along.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 4 pages
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101743404X207 (See in Profiles in Science)
- Profiles in Science ID:
- HRBBMX
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101743404X207
- Archival Collection:
- The John E. Fogarty Papers (Profiles in Science)