This is something we’ve promised our readers for the longest time, but sadly, not much has really happened with the drug. It is not any closer to being released than it was in our first reports. This is one reason we’ve focused on Oleander Soup and oleander extracts from Brazil mixed with Cat’s Claw, Pau D’Arco, and the ABM Mushroom.

We received an email telling us about another oleander extract called Xenavex, which we told our readers about in a newsletter, and we also printed a warning that Xenavex is a cardioglycoside (like digitalis).

We immediately received a letter from Paul McLouth, Executive Manager of ShimodaAtlantic Oncology. He told us that our language was “extremely misleading and seemingly couched in such a fashion as to scare potential or existing patients.” He wanted us to know that cancer patients using Xenavex did not receive any syringes and that Xenavex was a safe drug.

Here’s what we found in an article called Cardiac Glycosides (copyrighted by the American Heart Association):

Similarly, longer term infusion of plant-derived [cardiac glycosides] (15 µg/kg per day for 18 weeks), at doses that just double the plasma levels (from 0.3 to 0.7 nmol/L), produced hypertension and cardiac hypertrophy [abnormal enlargement of the heart] in rats.⁶ Moreover, a growing number of studies suggest that elevated levels of endogenous cardiac glycosides . . . may have a primary role in cardiac dysfunction and failure.

Additionally, even if you are a new patient to these drugs, you might experience the following side effects:

Anxiety, blurred or yellow vision, confusion, dizziness, mental depression, feeling of not caring, headache, loss of appetite, seeing or hearing things that are not there, and/or weakness; diarrhea, loss of appetite, lower stomach pain, nausea, and/or vomiting; irregular or slow heartbeat, palpitations (feeling of pounding in the chest), and/or fainting. [http://www.drugs.com/cons/Digitalis_Medicines.html] 

Xenavex is an alcohol extract of the Nerium Oleander plant; the amount of cardioglycosides increases, and the polysaccharides disappear.

When we did not retract our statements about Xenavex, we received a few threatening letters from a variety of people who, according to investigative journalist Tony Isaacs, did not exist; he’s thoroughly investigated this Paul McLouth and had concluded that this person too does not exist.

Tony wrote us the following:

I have an email from a now-deceased "patient" of theirs named Patrick who WAS given the syringe life saving kit - and whose tumors, which had shrunk and stabilized on Anvirzel, began to grow when “Someone” convinced him to stop, and then continued to grow when he switched to Xenavex. 

The simple fact is that the ethanolic extraction method used by the Russians only gets a small amount more oleandrin than the water extraction method, but loses the vital polysaccharides and other synergistic compounds that make Anvirzel and the folk remedy version so effective.  Over 500 different compounds have been identified in an aqueous solution of oleander extract, and it is still not fully understood how they work together.  I might add that the "serio neriolini" imported from Russia was formulated to treat heart conditions with no regards to cancer or any other cell proliferative disease.

Back to Anvirzel™

Where Anvirzel stands is the question of the decade. Ozel owns the patent and the trademark, though they did let it lapse once. There is no funding to continue Phase II trials. There has been a legal agreement between Ozell and Phoenix Biotech that “hold each other harmless,” meaning that both companies can make Anvirzel™.

The problem with an oleander extract (even though it was determined during Phase I trials to be safe) is how the FDA looks at it. The following is an FDA abstract on Oleander Extracts.

Abstract A09

Identification of Oleandrin and Oleandrigenin in Oleander Extract by LC/MS and LC/MS/MS

Walden H. Lee and Kin S. Chiu, Pacific Regional Laboratory-Southwest, FDA, Los Angeles, CA 90015

Nerium Oleander is an ornamental shrub found in the sun belt areas of the United States. The plant contains "digitalis-like" cardioglycosides that are highly toxic to animals, including humans. Oleander has been reported to have therapeutic effects in cell proliferation disease and a patent exists for the production of an extract. Due to the unsubstantiated medical claim, the toxicity of the plant and its potential use as an herbal drug, an identification method for two toxic components, oleandrin and oleandrigenin, was developed. For regulatory purposes, the method uses reversed phase liquid chromatography (LC) with electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry (MS) and MS/MS detection.

What this boils down to is if a package is opened that contains Oleander Extract, it will be confiscated. If it was shipped in the US to a US address, the shipper can be arrested. Only packages of Anvirzel™ shipped under the FDA’s own “exception” rules are legal.

No matter how safe we show the Oleander Extract to be, the FDA is not going to allow anyone to create a supplement from it, and the ostensible reason is “unsubstantiated medical claims” while others in the natural medicine arena say that the FDA is protecting the profits of the Cancer Industry.

"Everyone should know that the 'war on cancer' is largely a fraud." Linus Pauling

Ozel’s own research showed that Nerium Oleander Extract was successful in 70% of cancer patients who had not done chemotherapy, and 30% successful in cancer patients who had done chemo therapy. As you’ll see later, mixed with other plant medicinals, we can improve these success rates even more.

Crandell Addington is the president of Phoenix Biotech. He was one of the original investors in Ozel Pharmaceuticals, and still owns a considerable portion of their shares.

The Salud Integral clinic in Honduras was originally built by Ozelle Pharmeceuticals, but Ozelle ran out of funding and had a falling out among the management and so Crandell ended up putting together what ultimately became Pheonix Biotech. 

The chief medical advisor to Phoenix Biotech is MD Anderson's fairly renown Doctor Robert Newman whose name can be found on many scientific studies, including most of the ones done on Anvirzel™/oleandrin.

Salud Integral is really the only place that tested Anvirzel™ thoroughly on cancer patients. They are releasing it to the US under FDA exception rules (for people who’ve tried everything or who are considered terminal). In Honduras, Anvirzel™ has been previously approved for manufacture, sale, and distribution by their Health Ministry. Anvirzel™ is also approved for sale and distribution in El Salvador and Guatemala.

Here in the US, Phase I trials are ended, and here is the summary:

Summary  Anvirzel™ is an aqueous extract of the plant Nerium oleander which has been utilized to treat patients with advanced malignancies. The current study reports a phase 1 trial to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) and safety of Anvirzel™ in patients with advanced, refractory solid tumors. Patients were randomized to receive this agent by intramuscular injection at doses of 0.1, 0.2, 0.4 ml/m2/day with subsequent patients receiving 0.8 or 1.2 ml/m2/day sequentially. Eighteen patients were enrolled and completed at least one treatment cycle of three weeks. Most patients developed mild injection site pain (78%). Other toxicities included fatigue, nausea, and dyspnea [labored breathing]. Traditional dose limiting toxicity was not seen, but the MTD was defined by injection volume as 0.8 ml/m2/day. No objective anti-tumor responses were seen. Anvirzel™ can be safely administered at doses up to 1.2 ml/m2/day, with the amount administered intramuscularly limited by volume. The recommended phase II dose level is 0.8 ml/m2/day.

Phase I trials are simply to determine dosing and safety. As you can see, side effects were minimal and that they used an injectable form only. These trials are very short, and one can hardly judge a drug’s prospects in Phase I trials. Because Anvirzel™ was not administered orally, they could not use the doses that Dr Ozel had used in his original research when his patients drank the water extract.  

Addington and Pheonix Biotech have formulated a pill form of oleander extract that is much more potent than Anvirzel™. It has greater concentrations of the cardiaglycosides such as oleandrin and oleandrinogen. 

Crandell Addington tells us that it has not yet undergone any USFDA Clinical Trials, but that he anticipates a Phase I trial soon.

Phoenix Biotech has sunk millions into researching Anvirzel™ and they have given away, absolutely free on a case by case basis, a lot of medicine to people dying of cancer.

Whether Anvirzel™ ever makes it to market is open to question: Addington says that their plan is to get a major pharmaceutical company to buy them out after the preliminary work, since those are about the only ones who can play the billion dollar FDA approval game these days. [In our article Health Care for Dummies, you’ll see how the pharmaceutical industry raised the bar so high that no one other than the filthy rich pharmaceutical companies can actually play this game.]

We have just published Suma Ozel-Vance’s story of Anvirzel™ and her father’s history of research with the Nerium Oleander Extract. Some of the investors in the original company have a slightly different take on Anvirzel’s™ history, with Crandell Addington adding this:

Her closing statement about Ozel having the only USFDA approval for use of Anvirzel as a compassionate use drug is not accurate.  It is unequivocal that Salud Integral imports Anvirzel into the U.S. with the knowledge of the FDA.  The FDA has discretionary authority to allow importation of unapproved drugs into the U.S. under certain circumstances.  These can be found on the Web. 

Oleander continues to work miracles around the world, and it is also very effective as a skin cream to remove age spots, warts, moles, and pre-cancerous lesions. One user informed us that it eliminates gum disease and instantly stops sore throat whenever he has it.

To paraphrase the folks at MD Anderson:  no one is sure exactly how it works, but Anvirzel™ seems to have an ability to target and attack bad cells and only bad cells, and it kills them as well as prevents their replication.

Nerium Oleander extract greatly improves the immune system, and though I hardly recommend chemotherapy, taken with chemotherapy, Oleander Extract eliminates or alleviates all known chemo side effects.

Oleander Extract has been tested, in limited situations, successfully on cancer, AIDS, lupus, malaria, hepatitis C, and other viral diseases.

Tony Isaacs forwarded us an email with a testimonial from his aunt who is caring for his 84 Year old Uncle with lung cancer. He has been taking both Anvirzel™ and the Oleander soup:

We saw the Oncologist last Friday and got a copy of the CT Scan which was done on 1-3-07.

This is a quote: "Approximately 20% overall decrease in size of central mass and associated obstructive pneumonia or atelectasis of left upper lobe since previous study of January 2006. No new CT evidence of metastatic disease. No significant pleural effusion. CT abdomen negative for metastatic disease.

Needless to say, we are ecstatic over this news. Edward does take Anvirzel and oleander Soup now regularly. We sent a copy of the report to Dennis so that he can forward it to Honduras. Looks like the oleander is working wonders. Again, many thanks for all your help

Oleander Extract in Africa

A naturopathic physician, Dr Marc Swanepoel [who should immediately be taken out and cloned] has kept in touch with Tony Issacs while conducting research in Africa on AIDS and cancer. I’ll let Marc tell us in his own words what is happening there:

Everything still ok here and cancer patients as well as HIV patients on the oleander mix are doing well.

The medical doctor in Cape Town who is using the mix for all his cancer patients has continued to have good results. The oncologist where he sends his patients to was so impressed with the results that she is now using it herself for prevention.

I am nearly finished with my PhD in Natural Health and I will be starting the research part of my thesis shortly. I am doing a placebo controlled double-blind study on the effectiveness of the oleander mix on the CD4 cell count and viral load of advanced HIV/AIDS patients with a CD4 count of less than 200. Will keep you posted on the results.

To date, the only patients that did NOT make it on the oleander mix were three patients with very advanced cancer that had metastasized to the liver and who had been on intensive chemo treatments. In my opinion, the effect of the chemo on the liver and heart eventually led to failure of those organs. I therefore believe that it is essential for those kinds of patients to take herbal supplements that enhance liver function (like milk thistle and dandelion). The Cape Town doctor puts all his patients on adaptogens (Prime1).

When pressed for more details, Marc wrote the following:

Approximately 350 HIV/AIDS patients have used it and about 80 cancer patients on a regular basis. Of the cancer patients, 5 arrived when they had about a week to 10 days to live and they were too weak to keep the mix down. They died without really being able to try the mix. 3 (the ones I mentioned to you) died of liver and heart failure. All the others are still alive, some now for nearly three years. One Breast Cancer patient who was given a few months to live eventually became the patient of the oncologist who is now also using the mix. She was declared free of cancer by the oncologist approximately 1 year ago and is still doing well. Others used it for a few months until their cancers were gone and we have not heard from them again. One patient with a festering hole of 1cm diameter on his nose (about half a cm deep) have been using it for three months after doctors were unable to cure the tumour with radiation. The hole is now half the size and not festering anymore. It should be healed in about 3 - 6 months. The doctor in Cape Town whose own wife had metastasized cancer to the bones, is now cancer free. She has been on overseas trips and lives a normal life.

Unfortunately, I do not have time to keep track of all the patients. They just collect the mix from me and phone me from time to time to say that they are doing well. It also seems to help for asthma, male impotence and diabetes. One advanced MS patient has now used it for 2 months and is reporting that it seems to help for the pain in her legs. All the distribution is happening by word of mouth and I don't advertise at all. I have had orders from the UK from people who had heard about the successes in South Africa. A documentary maker there was filming the progress of his wife on a weekly basis but, unfortunately, she was one of the liver complications. He still believes very firmly that the mix gave his wife an extra 5 months of high quality life.

In our Alternative Cancer Therapies, we list a product from Brazil called OPC, which is an admixture of Oleander Extract, Cat’s Claw, Pau D’Arco, and ABM Mushrooms. It was Marc who helped the people in Brazil create this concoction, but sadly you either can’t get a hold of these people (Takesun, Inc) or if you do it costs you $299.00 for a bottle of 500ml of the OPC while an American distributor sells it for $345.00/bottle.

Marc has told us that he has about 100 bottles left and will send them to anyone (only two per customer since the smaller the package the better to slip by the FDA) for a total of $99.00 per bottle. If the FDA confiscates them, it’s not his problem. Just know that ordering one more would be still cheaper than buying it from Brazil even if you could get a hold of the people.

Marc has also intimated that he’s not so keen on the ABM Mushroom anymore (though he does admit that of all the mushrooms, the ABM is the best of the healers), since he’s discovered a plant in Africa called the Sutherlandia Frutescens. The combination of Oleander and Sutherlandia is the basis of his PhD thesis. The Sutherlandia has a long history of medicinal uses, is readily available, and from his own experience, works better with Oleander Extract than the ABM Mushroom.

When he’s run out of his current supply of OPC and gets his production facilities up and running, he’ll be supplying Sutherlandia OPC to the world from Africa. Hopefully, this will all come about sometime in April.

You can get a hold of Marc at this email address: marcswan@global.co.za  

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For those of you who would like more information on the African "cancer bush, the Sutherlandia Frutescens that Marc mentioned above, go to www.sutherlandia.org.