Immunoaugmentative Therapies (IAT) – pro
The treatment described is in the province of alternative medicine and not allopathic medicine. The theory for the treatment that is described does not ‘fit’ allopathic physiology.
Immuno-Technologies Cancer Clinic (ITL) is located 30 minutes (by plane) from Miami in Freeport, Bahamas. The Clinic and the alternative cancer treatment research center is directed by Dr. John Clement.
Each alternative cancer treatment plan is customized to the person with cancer. In addition to immune therapy such as cancer vaccine we provide angiogenesis inhibition (blocking new blood vessels that feed tumor), apoptosis inducing agents (help tumor cells to commit suicide), and cytotoxic agents that kill tumor cells while not destroying normal cells, including photodynamic therapy (a dye made from chlorophyll accumulates in the tumor, and a light is applied to activate the dye to kill the tumor).
Immuno-augmentative therapy (IAT) was developed by Lawrence Burton, Ph.D., a zoologist who claimed that it could control all forms of cancer by restoring natural immune defenses. He claimed to accomplish this by injecting blood serum proteins isolated with processes he had patented. However, experts have shown that the substances he claimed to use cannot be produced by these procedures and do not exist in the human body. During the mid-1980s, several of Burton’s patients were reported to have developed serious infections following IAT. Burton died in 1993, but the Bahamian clinic he founded is still operating under the direction of Dr. R. John Clement, a British-trained general practitioner who joined with Burton in 1978.
No evidence has been published showing that immuno-augmentative therapy is safe or effective against cancer in humans. Burton did not publish detailed clinical reports or meaningful statistics, divulge the details of his methods, conduct a controlled trial, or provide independent investigators with specimens of his treatment materials for analysis. The mechanism of action he postulated for his treatment
involved substances that are unknown to the scientific community. Although Burton said that IAT treatment materials were produced with processes he patented, experts do not believe that these processes can achieve what he claimed. Several attempts to develop a protocol for a clinical trial of IAT were unsuccessful.
July 29, 1974 cover of New York Magazine.
“After studying the literature and other available information, the American Cancer Society has found no evidence that the “immuno-augmentative therapy (IAT)” advocated by Lawrence Burton, PhD, is safe or results in objective benefit in the treatment of cancer. Lacking such evidence, the American Cancer Society strongly urges individuals with cancer not to seek such treatment.” (CA 1991)
A 2003 RAND Corporation review of patient cases concluded: ”
Spencer JW, Jacobs JJ. Complementary/alternative medicine: an evidence based approach. Toronto: Mosby, 1999:149.
Bernd L. Pfeifer, MD, PhD Wayne B. Jonas, MD
Clinical Evaluation of “Immunoaugmentative Therapy (IAT)”: An Unconventional Cancer Treatment Integrative Cancer Therapies, Vol. 2, No. 2, 112-119 (2003)
Coulter, I., Hardy, M,, Shekelle, P., et al. Best-Case Series for the Use of Immuno-Augmentation Therapy and Naltrexone for the Treatment of Cancer. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 78 (Prepared by Southern California-RAND Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No 290-97-001). AHRQ Publication No. 03-E030. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. April 2003.