Photos courtesy of Institute for Neurological Research
Seventy-seven-year-old spinal cancer patient Myrtle
Miller sits beside Dr. Edward Tobinick
during her appointment Wednesday.
By Chris Young
Daily Bruin Reporter
Seventy-seven-year-old lung cancer patient Myrtle Miller was in
constant pain for two months, even with daily morphine. And even
after radiation therapy, she could not step into a car or get out
of a chair without assistance. But since a single-injection of
DiskCure, Miller said she is pain-free.
Assistant clinical professor Edward Tobinick, the inventor of
DiskCure, said the medication is potentially effective against
cancer pain.
While some doctors said the treatment may be a solution for a
variety of illnesses, they caution against “cure-all”
implications.
“If his medication has suppressed tumor growth, it could
conceivably get rid of the cause of pain for the long-term or
permanently … and potentially be a groundbreaking
discovery,” said Anthony Nyerges, clinical professor of
anesthesiology at the UCLA Pain Management Center.
But Nyerges also said he would await the results of
Tobinick’s results in a peer-reviewed journal first.
The DiskCure medication, based on cytokines, a type of chemical
the body naturally makes, is already effective in relieving back
pain.
It is not known how DiskCure works against cancer pain, but back
pain is counteracted by stopping the nerve-damaging effect of a
chemical released by an injured spinal disk.
 The parenthetical marks on this x-ray show the damage to
Myrtle Miller’s spine from spreading cancer. DiskCure uses an
FDA-approved medication, but Tobinick is hoping to patent it for
use in a novel way.
Tobinick and Janos Damnavits, Miller’s caretaker, said her
appetite has improved dramatically and her thinking is clearer.
Tobinick acknowledged that this could be due to the absence of
morphine and not necessarily DiskCure.
Tobinick said he has treated more than 400 patients with
DiskCure for back pain, and the majority of them felt relief with a
single injection.
Tobinick said Miller’s pain relief and clinical
improvement are “highly correlated” with his results
from back pain patients treated with DiskCure, adding that
effectiveness of DiskCure on cancer pain relief must wait until
more patients are treated.
Duncan McBride, an associate clinical professor of neurosurgery,
said a double-blind study ““ one in which neither the
investigator nor the patient know if the patient is getting the
actual treatment or a placebo ““ should be done on the
medication.
Tobinick said he has plans to submit his findings to a medical
journal.
“Their skepticism will be allayed when we publish our
figures,” Tobinick said when asked about doubt from other
doctors regarding DiskCure.
Tobinick would not provide statistics on his patients, though
patient videos and medical reports are available on his Web
site.
The Institute for Neurological Research, which is
Tobinick’s private medical office and not a UCLA entity, is
the only location that administers DiskCure. Tobinick is in the
process of licensing medical offices around the U.S. and abroad to
use the treatment.
Researchers in Japan and Sweden have also established
corroborative research behind the DiskCure treatment, Tobinick
said.
Edward Tobinick’s Web site is www.diskcure.com.