You’ve been diagnosed with cancer…
And you’ve done your research.
You ask your doc about herbal medicine… and how it might help ARM you in your fight against the disease.
Instead of making sure you have access to EVERY tool you need to ease your mind… and maybe even SHORE UP your defenses…
Your doc just shakes his head…
And tells you not to WASTE your time… or your money.
“That won’t do anything,” he says.
Because if he’s a conventional doc… he didn’t learn about medicinal approaches that are OUTSIDE the mainstream when he went to medical school.
And he might not even be aware of certain natural ingredients that are CHANGING THE GAME in cancer research.
Don’t let him convince you that natural medicine will NEVER work against cancer.
Because it has… and it will again.
Here’s a classic example of the path one plant extract took from Traditional Chinese Medicine… to FDA approval.
Breaking new ground
There’s an Asian cousin to our native tupelo tree – one that scientists know by its Latin name, Camptotheca acuminata.
The Chinese know it as “Xi Shu,” or the “Tree of Joy”… and use it to treat ailments like the common cold.
And certain types of researchers? Well, they know it as the “cancer tree.”
Because as it turns out… C. acuminata offers b anti-tumor activity.
American scientists first caught wind of the “happy tree” in 1958… when the USDA and National Cancer Institute were looking for cancer cures in plants used in folk medicine around the world.
In the 1960s, in vitro studies showed how extracts from this tree could help beat back leukemia…
Which was really exciting, since that was one form of cancer that they hadn’t yet learned how to fight with plant-based therapies.
It makes sense that it could help fight a blood cancer, since the TCM theory behind its medicinal value is that it “regulates the blood.”
Those same scientists later discovered that the “happy tree” contains the potent plant chemical (or “alkaloid”) called camptothecin – and that’s the key to this tree’s cancer-fighting potential.
In NCI-sponsored clinical trials on real cancer patients, camptothecin helped fight gastrointestinal tumors…
And many more types of cancer would be TOPPLED in later studies…
Including… ovarian cancer
lung cancer
breast cancer, and
colon cancer.
Camptothecin works as a topoisomerase inhibitor – which is just a fancy way of saying that it BLOCKS the ability of cancer cells’ DNA to replicate.
And if their genes can’t do that… the cancer cells can’t grow and multiply.
Topoisomerase is an enzyme that promotes DNA replication… and it tends to be OVERACTIVE in certain cases of cancer.
So, by NORMALIZING its activity… camptothecin could offer a strategic and unique way to STOP cancer in its tracks.
The problem with this natural approach is two-fold.
First, camptothecin isn’t easily absorbed by our bodies… especially not in its natural state. That means that there’s a certain amount of processing that needs to happen in order to use it medicinally.
Second, the trees that camptothecin comes from – those “happy trees” – have been overharvested in China and are now endangered. That means exportation has been BANNED.
Of course, Big Pharma is always ready to take natural medicine and (at least partially) SYNTHESIZE it in a laboratory…
And that’s exactly what they’ve done with camptothecin.
You can now find it as the basis for conventional IV chemo drugs like… topotecan (for small-cell lung , ovarian , and cervical cancers)
irinotecan (for small-cell lung and colon cancer)
trastuzumab deruxtecan (for breast and gastric cancer)
belotecan (for small-cell lung and ovarian cancer, approved in Korea only)
Trastuzumab deruxtecan… sold in the U.S. as the brand name drug Enhertu… has shown in clinical trials to help treat patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer that’s resisted prior treatment.
It’s even helped improve survival rates…
And that’s a good thing.
But this is really TOXIC stuff… and comes with the side effects you’d expect from mainstream cancer treatments.
I’m talking about hair loss… nausea… vomiting… loss of appetite… and more.
Here’s my takeaway…
It IS possible to extract effective cancer treatments from plants. Don’t let anybody tell you otherwise.
We’ve seen it with camptothecin… and we’ve seen it with paclitaxel (extracted from the Pacific yew tree).
You and your cancer doc will decide whether either of these offers the right approach for your particular scenario…
But their success stories tell me that they’re not our ONLY options out there.
The cancer research industry needs to EMBRACE plant medicine more wholeheartedly…
And cancer docs should support your willingness to try herbal approaches… especially alongside conventional care.
If your doc needs a little convincing, share this story with him.
And if he won’t budge… consider adding an integrative oncologist to your care team.
To your cancer recovery,
Sarah Reagan