{"entity":{"id":"antineoplastons","kind":"technology","name":"Antineoplastons (Burzynski clinic)","aka":[],"tldr":"Antineoplastons are peptide fractions first isolated from urine and given at one private clinic in Texas for nearly fifty years, mostly to children with brain tumours. Despite dozens of registered trials, none has been published in full, no independent group has confirmed benefit, and the treatment is expensive and causes serious salt imbalance.","summary":"Stanislaw Burzynski proposed in the 1970s that antineoplastons, peptides and amino-acid derivatives (A10, AS2-1, related to phenylacetate and phenylacetylglutamine), correct a natural biochemical defence against cancer. The Burzynski Research Institute has registered more than 60 phase 2 trials since the 1990s, almost all in brain tumours; none has been completed and published as a full report, and the only independent attempt, an NCI-sponsored trial in the 1990s, was terminated after disputes over eligibility with too few patients to analyse. Case reports of response are unverified, and hypernatraemia, sometimes severe, is a recognised toxicity. Patients pay large sums for treatment on a trial basis. The FDA and the Texas Medical Board have taken repeated action. The NCI PDQ summary concludes that no randomised controlled trials show benefit.","status":"negative","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antineoplaston","links":[{"label":"NCI PDQ: Antineoplastons","url":"https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/antineoplastons-pdq"}],"tags":["complementary","supportive-care","evidence:insufficient"],"related":[],"cancers":["glioblastoma","medulloblastoma"],"sections":["supportive-care"],"technologies":["alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment","integrative-oncology"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":["nct02887040","nct00003456","nct00003475"],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-misinformation","b-negative-results"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Claimed restoration of a peptide-based anticancer defence system; the compounds are metabolites of phenylbutyrate, a drug tested and abandoned elsewhere for cancer.","strengths":["Registered trials exist, so results could in principle be published"],"limitations":["No published completed trial in five decades","Severe hypernatraemia","Very high cost to patients"]},"route":"/technologies/antineoplastons/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"glioblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Glioma & glioblastoma","route":"/cancers/glioblastoma/"},{"id":"medulloblastoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Medulloblastoma","route":"/cancers/medulloblastoma/"}],"section":[{"id":"supportive-care","kind":"section","name":"Supportive Care & Survivorship","route":"/fronts/supportive-care/"}],"technology":[{"id":"alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment","kind":"technology","name":"Alternative medicine used instead of standard treatment","route":"/technologies/alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment/"},{"id":"integrative-oncology","kind":"technology","name":"Evidence-based integrative oncology","route":"/technologies/integrative-oncology/"}],"trial":[{"id":"nct00003456","kind":"trial","name":"Antineoplaston Therapy in Treating Patients With Newly-diagnosed Glioblastoma Multiforme","route":"/trials/nct00003456/"},{"id":"nct00003475","kind":"trial","name":"Antineoplaston Therapy in Treating Patients With Primary Malignant Brain Tumors","route":"/trials/nct00003475/"},{"id":"nct02887040","kind":"trial","name":"Study of Antineoplaston Therapy + Radiation vs. Radiation Only in Diffuse, Intrinsic, Brainstem Glioma","route":"/trials/nct02887040/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-negative-results","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Failures are hidden","route":"/bottlenecks/b-negative-results/"},{"id":"b-misinformation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Misinformation and unproven therapies","route":"/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/"}]}}