There is evidence beginning to circulate among traditional healing centers and researchers that confirms what we already know. Vibrational medicine & frequency devices are the new and better method of combating many of our illnesses than much of the traditional methods in practice today.
Vibrational Medicine for Brain Cancer
By the time researchers this month announced the results of a large clinical trial for a newish therapy for a deadly brain tumor, an Omaha businessman already knew it contained good news. Sam Taylor had seen earlier results from a smaller trial, courtesy of a small-world coincidence and his alma mater’s commitment to networking. He’d been diagnosed with the cancer, glioblastoma multiforme, in October. Because his tumor was in a spot too precarious for traditional surgery, his doctor at the Nebraska Medical Center referred him to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
There, he underwent a type of precision laser surgery that destroyed much of the tumor by heating it. He followed with radiation and started chemotherapy. Then, in mid-January, Taylor, the chief executive officer of Omaha’s Oriental Trading Co., began wearing an adhesive cap embedded with transducers on his shaved head for about 20 hours a day. The device, called Optune, delivers what have been dubbed tumor treating fields: low-intensity, alternating electrical fields that the device’s developers say disrupt the division of cancer cells, ultimately killing them.
Some doctors remain skeptical of the therapy, which now is available at approximately 500 medical centers certified to prescribe it in the United States, including the Nebraska Medical Center. While not a cure, the results of the trial, involving nearly 700 patients over five years, indicated that patients using the device alongside standard chemotherapy were living longer on average than those taking chemo alone.
Specifically, 43 percent of patients using the device were alive after two years compared with 31 percent of those who did not. At three years, the survival rate with the device was 26 percent versus 16 percent, and at five years, more than twice as many were still alive: 13 percent versus 5 percent. Median survival was 21 months with the therapy versus 16 months without it. And the therapy produced only mild side effects, including skin irritation.
Taylor said the additional months in median survival was exciting in its own right. And he’s seen his share of numbers: He became Oriental Trading’s chief executive in 2008 and guided the novelty and toy company — then in the hands of one of a series of out-of-town investors — through a financial reorganization before successfully pitching a sale to Warren Buffett in 2012 and returning the company to local ownership under Berkshire Hathaway.
If they say you have a certain amount of time to live and you suddenly get more, “Don’t tell me that’s not significant,” he said. Also exciting was the fact that the results indicated that the therapy worked even for patients like him, who have a type of tumor that doesn’t respond as well to the mainstay chemo. But the doubled survival rate at five years was huge. “Sign me up,” Taylor said, “I want to be part of that 13%.”
Indeed, Dr. Roger Stupp, a brain tumor expert now at Northwestern University in Chicago, said the last time a treatment meaningfully improved survival for patients with glioblastoma was 10 years ago, when the currently used chemo was added to radiotherapy. Stupp served as the principal investigator for the study, which was funded by Novocure, the device’s developer, and conducted at 80 sites around the world. Until he relocated last month, Stupp headed the oncology department at University of Zurich Hospital in Switzerland. “This gives, at least for some patients, a long-term hope for control,” he said, “and it gives additional quality time.”
But Taylor already knew some of that. After he was diagnosed, he sent a brief email notifying the people who’d been in his section at Harvard Business School. The roughly 90 people assigned to each group tend to form a tight network, and they stay in touch. He got an email back from Bill Doyle, who had a pretty good idea from the scant details what ailed his former classmate. Doyle, who is Novocure’s executive chairman, explained that the technology his firm had been developing was being used on the very disease Taylor was battling. Doyle flew to Houston to meet with Taylor and his doctors. Doyle said he knew that treatment choices involve very personal decisions and that a variety of clinical trials typically are available at such centers. He provided the latest clinical trial data for Optune.
“My goal was that he and his doctors decide on the best course of treatment for Sam,” said Doyle, who worked in medical device research and development at Johnson & Johnson before becoming an investor and entrepreneur. Doyle noted that patients who are compliant with the treatment — Taylor’s been averaging 20 hours a day; the company recommends 18 — do better than the trial data indicates. Taylor did his own research and decided to go ahead. With glioblastoma, he said, doctors typically can’t remove the entire tumor, so patients face recurrence. Taylor said his laser procedure got all but the edges of his cancer. The radiation, chemo and, in his case, Optune, are intended to go after what’s left, as well as any seeds it may have left behind. Indeed, Taylor said, his last two scans show additional dead tumor cells. “I’m very excited about the results I’m seeing with Optune,” he said.
After his diagnosis, Taylor started a YouTube channel called “Cancer Cure Bus,” figuring he could put his background in e-commerce and knowledge of social media to use. There, he’s posted video messages of encouragement and his hope for a cure through faith, positivity and modern medicine. In a statement, MD Anderson officials said they were encouraged by Taylor’s progress. “We applaud Sam’s courage and willingness to explore new treatment options and educate other patients about cancer and the importance of clinical trials,” they said.
Dr. Nicole Shonka, an associate professor in the oncology and hematology division at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, said some of the continued skepticism about Optune stems from the fact that the clinical trials haven’t compared the device with a fake, or placebo. But asking patients to wear a device that might be fake would be a tough sell, she said, given that patients have to shave their heads and then apply the transducers, typically with a caregiver’s help, and wear the device 18 hours a day. In addition, it puts out a small amount of heat.
“I believe the data looks very good,” she said. “I don’t believe this is all due to placebo effect. I believe there is something attacking these tumor cells effectively.” Shonka, who trained at MD Anderson, said the med center began offering the therapy around 2010, shortly after it was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in recurrent glioblastoma. The agency OK’d its use for new tumors during the latest trial, after initial results indicated that it was extending survival. So far she’s used it with about 30 patients, some of whom come to the med center to learn how to use it and then continue with their local doctors. A number, particularly those who started early, have done better than expected. The biggest reason some patients decline the therapy, she said, is that some don’t want the daily, visible reminder that they have cancer.
Stupp, the Northwestern doctor, said the skepticism is understandable, given that Optune represents a completely new approach, the first in decades. “But at some point,” he said, “you have to accept the data is out there, and it’s among the best data that’s been out there for the past 10 years.” Indeed, several other national experts who attended a recent cancer conference told the Associated Press that the new results looked promising. Most private insurance covers the device, which can cost $21,000 a month. That stems from the cost of development, roughly a half billion dollars. Medicare doesn’t cover it yet. Until it does, Doyle said, the company will provide it at no cost to patients over age 65. “There is no patient in the U.S. who is denied access to Optune because of financial reasons,” he said.
Meanwhile, Doyle said, the company also is testing the technology on other deadly cancers — pancreatic, ovarian and lung. They’re also investigating it in conjunction with immunotherapy and other chemotherapies. The company already has reduced the weight of the portable electrical field generator patients carry from 6 pounds to just under 3 pounds and next plans to work to make the transducer array more comfortable. “In many ways, we’re just at the beginning,” he said. “As good as the results are today, we’re not stopping.”