Criminal Story of a Prevention - Ukrainian Anti Cancer Institute

For three decades Nowicky had made efforts and put up with all the harassment so
that his invention could move onto the world market from Austria; ‘out of gratitude’ as he
says because this country had given him a home. He also knew very well the financial
benefits which the country could reap. Each year Austria spends € 100 million in the USA on
chemotherapeutic drugs alone – minus ‘commission’, by which ‘donations’ are also to be
understood. And although Ukrain is not yet registered € 1.3 million come back to Austria
from the sale of Ukrain alone. ‘The commercial aspect does not interest us,’ said Dr. Johann
Jentzsch, Ministerialrat and the Ministry of Health, in a talk with me on 8 February 1994.
When I pointed out the danger that Nowicky could go abroad he was almost euphoric; ‘He
should go to Germany!’ he said with joy.
A study carried out in Germany in February 1998 by Harald von Eick, director of
business development at an international services company in the field of clinical research
(CRO), who specialises in the market sectors ‘strategic management for immunology and
oncology’ shows that the economic aspects of Ukrain are in no way uninteresting for the
country in which Ukrain is produced and from which it is distributed. In view of the fact that
Ukrain is non-toxic in therapeutic doses and that quality of life is significantly improved –
even in the final stages of disease when all else has failed – von Eick sees the market potential
of Ukrain as extremely positive.
If one supposes that in the first year in which Ukrain becomes available it will
predominantly be used on patients in the final stages of disease who conventional medicine
can no longer help, von Eick forecasts that Ukrain could gain a 30 percent market share in
Europe in the first three years - which means that 76,500 patients would benefit from it. This
is an unusually successful perspective for a new drug in the oncological field, wrote von Eick.
Nowicky himself is rather more reserved in such forecasts. ‘On the basis of studies carried out
so far on efficacy and tolerance, a market share of five to ten percent is realistic for the
treatment of solid tumours such as cancers of the breast, colon and rectum, lung, prostate, and
bladder as well as melanomas,’ according to his application to the trade and industry research
grant fund.
Among the forms of cancer listed it is noticeable that three are included against which
drugs are to a large extent powerless. These are breast, colon and lung cancer with metastases,
as stated in a radio discussion between Austrian cancer specialists on 7 February 1997.
Nowicky’s current turnover, as stated in his application to the trade and industry
research fun is € 500,000 in Austria and just over that abroad. The total market volume in the
framework of the project was calculated as € 100 million in Austria and € 20 billion abroad.
In the first phase a production and research organisation creating 50 jobs would be set up and
this would expand to 200 jobs in the final phase. The cultivation of greater celandine for the
extraction of raw materials is estimated to create 500 to 1,000 jobs in agriculture. It is not
difficult to imagine what that would mean for farmers who are having a hard time making a
living. Finally, the revenue from taxes is a factor which cannot be overlooked.
All these advantages could benefit another country if a miracle does not happen – only
because the authorities and various interest groups in Austria have been able to prevent the
drug’s registration. It is hardly credible that one single civil servant, or more of them, could
have set the wheels in motion for this obstruction. The question also arises what interest they
could have in doing so. It is rather more probable that large pharmaceutical concerns which
themselves have spent billions developing chemotherapeutic drugs would have a few million
to spare to obstruct a new anti-cancer drug: N.B. if that drug achieved much better results
with extremely negligible side effects. The fact that these concerns were disturbed by the
regular reports on Ukrain at national and international congresses is confirmed by the
tempting offers which once again arrived from an international concern for the Ukrain patent
and the relevant expertise.
47