Paul Marik's 2nd Act

Tackling Cancer

Dr. Paul Marik Testifying at Senate Hearing

Dr. Paul Marik, the most published Critical Care Specialist in the United States has now tackled Cancer. Marik reviewed thousands of studies, and in the process, uncovered fundamental truths and busted persistent myths.

I had the honor and privilege of interviewing him on his upcoming new book, Cancer Care 2nd Edition.

While many readers may be familiar with his best-selling Cancer Care 1st Edition and his three tiers of Repurposed Drugs against Cancer, the 2nd edition expands these and adds propranolol, a relatively unknown anticancer agent. Moreover, in the new edition, Ivermectin is moved up to Tier One and Number Six as emerging evidence shows it has more potential cancer benefits than initially thought.

Finally, Marik gives us some evidence on which three repurposed drugs to take before cancer surgery or biopsy to decrease the risk of spreading the cancer through surgical manipulation of the tumor. Cutting a tumor has long been known to pose a risk of spreading the cancer, yet patients have not been warned of this. Marik notes that studies have shown that these risks can be reduced with the pre-operative use of celecoxib, propranolol, or cimetidine. Better yet, combining all three may have a synergistic preventative effect.

But my interview with Dr. Marik provided much more, and I am honored to share it with my readers.

First, let me start with the root cause of cancer. Dr. Marik notes the Somatic Mutation Theory, the one we are all taught in medical school, is not supported by the growing data. Cancer, as we have been told for decades, is not caused by a series of mutations that results eventually in out-of-control cell division.

Instead, the data provides much more support for the Mitochondrial Dysfunction Model as espoused by Dr. Thomas Seyfried. When cancerous cells’ mitochondria are transplanted into normal cells, the normal cells become cancerous. However, when cancerous cells’ nuclei are transplanted into normal cells, the cancer does not transfer. The causative agent is carried in the mitochondria, not in the nucleus. The central issue in cancer is defective mitochondria, not DNA mutations.

Why has this myth that cancer arises from DNA mutations persisted?

Because the Somatic Mutation Theory is the narrative, and the narrative produces expensive and profitable treatments. The results remain lacking. The narrative probably won’t change any time soon, however, Dr. Marik notes that addressing cancer treatment according to the Mitochondrial Dysfunction Model produces different therapies and much better outcomes.

These treatments, which can be done in addition to the standard of care for most patients, can result in longer survival times - in some cases complete remission. Perhaps more importantly, Marik’s recommendations may result in avoiding cancer altogether, a prospect that could demolish the cancer industry’s profits.

But I digress.

Let us get to some of the other myths that Marik busts.

“Sunlight is bad for you as it increases your risk of cancer and sunscreen is healthy for you as it decreases your cancer risk.”

Wrong. It is quite the opposite.

Marik quotes a Swedish Study that shows sunscreen users have almost double the risk of skin cancer.

“It should be noted that sunscreen users in Sweden have been reported to be at an 80% increased risk of melanoma. (OR=1.8, 95%CI=1.1-2.9). (413) A plausible explanation of this increased melanoma risk might be that the application of a sunscreen inhibits the redness of the skin but allows prolonged UV exposure.”

Or God-forbid, perhaps those chemicals contained in the sunscreen were toxic and increased cancer risk. We know at least two sunscreen chemicals were recently banned due to safety concerns and potential carcinogenicity - para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and trolamine salicylate. That would have been nice to know these past 30 years.

There are skin cancers related to sun exposure, like squamous cell and basal cell carcinomas. They occur disproportionately in the most sun-exposed skin areas. While the face contains roughly 6.5% of the body’s surface area, more than 87% of squamous cell carcinomas form there.

By contrast, only 22% of melanomas grow on the face. The vast majority occur in areas where the sun does not shine. What is truly astonishing - to put this in Dr. Marik’s parlance - is that a study by Merrill and colleagues showed melanoma risk has risen exponentially since 1960 despite decreasing UV sunlight exposure - and all of that sunscreen.

An Italian study revealed that sun holidays following melanoma diagnosis were associated with an improved prognosis. Dr. Marik explains that “you can’t have it both ways.” Either sunlight promotes melanoma, or it reduces it. And the Italian study authors, trying hard to find confounding variables could not.

Not sunbeds. Not other indicators of UV exposure. The strongest association was sun exposure holidays, which was inversely related to melanoma - in thickness, ulceration, and recurrence - in a dose-dependent manner. The more sun, the better the prognosis.

In study after study, low Vitamin D3 levels were the underlying cancer-causing culprit. Sun exposure, it turns out, is healthy and cancer-reducing almost always.

So, it should come as no surprise that Dr. Marik’s Number One repurposed anti-cancer drug based on the most evidenced-based support is Vitamin D3. It also should be no shock that sunlight is advised as an anti-cancer tool for those who suffer from the disease.

Surprisingly it is NOT because UV sunlight leads to the production of Vitamin D3 although that plays a role. The most important reason is different. It is because near-infrared sunlight which occupies more of the sunlight’s spectrum than UV is mitochondria friendly. Near-infrared sunlight has numerous beneficial effects on mitochondrial function, especially those functions involved in ATP production in the electron transport system. Dr. Marik discusses it.

“There’s data now going back over 100 years attesting to the power of the sun. Most of the sunshine is near-infrared and near-infrared has enormous health benefits … It’s anti-inflammatory, it energizes the mitochondria, improves your metabolic dysfunction. It’s really important.”

Although I attended a top-tier medical school, I was never taught about the necessity of getting sufficient near-infrared sunlight. However, I was drilled on the absolute need for chemotherapy, radiation treatments, and surgery when dealing with many different forms of cancer, although these failed to substantially help the majority of patients with terminal cancer.

When my friend and colleague developed Glioblastoma, a serious brain cancer with an average survival of 12.7 months, I dove into the medical literature and found repurposed drugs. My friend added four of these - Atorvastatin, Mebendazole, Metformin, and Doxycycline - to his treatment plan through the US Care Oncology Clinic, and he survived some 46 months - almost 4 times longer than expected.

For this his family was grateful. However, we had all hoped for more. And when he ultimately passed, it was the radiation damage that played the largest role, not the cancer. Dr. Thomas Seyfried has noticed the same issue in his interviews on Glioblastoma. Seyfried explains the brain should never be irradiated.

I only wish we had this information in 2020. We needed Dr. Seyfried’s and Dr. Marik’s cancer knowledge then. My friend could have done better and lived longer.

Today, Dr. Marik has informed me that the US Care Oncology Clinic is in decline, and in danger of closing its doors. Your guess as to why is as good as mine, and likely has to do with the profits of others.

I hope the Care Oncology Clinic continues its noble work of adding years to cancer patients’ lives. But more importantly, I hope all patients with cancer, or those at high risk, read Dr. Marik’s Cancer Care books, both the 1st and 2nd editions.

Which brings me to propranolol. Dr. Marik ranks this second in evidence support only to Vitamin D3. Why? The book covers all the technical and detailed anti-cancer pathways of propranolol. However, the gist of it is this:

Propranolol is a beta blocker that shields the effect of catecholamines on the body. Catecholamines like norepinephrine and epinephrine are released when we encounter stress, and stress increases the likelihood of developing cancer. Therefore, by blocking the catecholamines, propranolol reduces the risk of developing cancer.

Marik writes:

“Chronic stress activates the sympathetic nervous system, which secretes catecholamines which feed cancer growth.(562, 563) Accumulating data indicate that the psychological stress caused by chronic stressors is a major risk factor for cancer occurrence, growth and metastasis.(562, 563) Experimental analyses with in vivo animal models have now shown that behavioral stress can accelerate the progression of breast, prostate, and ovarian carcinomas, neuroblastomas, malignant melanomas, pancreatic carcinoma and some hemopoietic cancers such as leukemia. In many of these experimental models, the biological effects of stress could be efficiently blocked by beta-adrenergic antagonists and mimicked by pharmacologic beta agonists.”

However, the key property of this beta blocker is that it reduces metastatic spread.

“The most important function of propranolol acting via multiple mechanisms is to reduce metastatic spread.”

This brings me to one of Dr. Marik’s favorite parts of his upcoming book. Three repurposed drugs can offer preventative effects against metastatic spread in those undergoing cancer surgery. These include celecoxib, cimetidine, and propranolol. Dr. Marik writes the combination may be synergistic.

“Perioperative propranolol together with a COX-2 inhibitor, cimetidine, and vitamin D (20 000 IU/DAY) given for 7 days prior to surgical resection of a tumor may reduce the risk of metastatic disease. Postoperatively patients should be placed on a maintenance program of dietary management and repurposed drugs as based on the recommendations presented in this monograph.”

Perhaps we should all exercise logic and common sense when dealing with cancer. Utilizing the Marik Cocktail of propranolol, cimetidine, and celecoxib for 7 days before any invasive biopsy is a low-risk strategy to improve cancer outcomes. And combining cimetidine - an antacid - with an NSAID makes perfect sense.

My interview with Dr. Marik was a pleasant adventure. Speaking with him is like talking to your best friend albeit with a South African accent and an AI-like knowledge of the subject. He has the most remarkable combination of intellect, compassion and humility of anyone I know.

And Dr. Marik’s 2nd Act will change the way the world approaches cancer.