Dr Li with patient | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Dr Li Dinggang has become the last hope for hundreds of cancer patients from all around the world. He's suing a drug called Gendicine, which's only been approved for use in China. Its advocates claim it's remarkably effective. | 00:00 |
Dr LI | DR LI DINGGANG, HAIDIAN HOSPITAL, BEIJING: Most of our cancer patients have been at a terminal stage cancer. In here, we try to use the Gendicine with other therapies. | 00:18 |
Philomena | PHILOMENA MONIZ: I think I'll be absolutely cured. I think I'll go cancer free. | 00:34 |
Dancers | Music | 00:42 |
Philomena and Rainda watch dancers | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Philomena Moniz and her daughter Rainda Ribeiro have travelled to Beijing from Perth. Mrs Moniz has a four centimetre cancerous growth behind her bladder. And the cancer has spread to her abdomen. The prognosis from her doctors back in Australia was bleak. | 00:43 |
Rainda | RAINDA RIBEIRO, DAUGHTER: They said to us, best case scenario, if she opted for no treatment, three months, and if she had the chemotherapy, six months. So they could not control the spread even with chemo. | 01:02 |
McDonell with Dr. Li | STEPHEN MCDONELL: So if she had not come here, how would you have rated her chances? | 01:15 |
| DR LI DINGGANG, HAIDIAN HOSPITAL, BEIJING: No chance. | 01:21 |
Philomena and Rainda | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Like most foreign cancer patients flocking to China, Philomena Moniz found out about Gendicine on the internet. | 01:24 |
| PHILOMENA MONIZ: People were not too happy about me coming to China, | 01:31 |
Philomena | even the doctors said ‘Do you really want to go to China?' | 01:35 |
Philomena having scan | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Gendicine is a type of gene therapy. Doctors inject it directly into a tumour. The drug is a combination of a gene called P53 and a virus which carries the P53 gene into the cancerous cells. It's mostly used in combination with other treatments like chemotherapy. | 01:43 |
Dr Li | DR LI DINGGANG: The P53 gene will directly kill and destroy the cancer cell. | 02:06 |
Philomena having scan | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Although trials to develop similar drugs also using the P53 gene are being conducted elsewhere in the world, some Western cancer specialists express doubts about Gendicine. | 02:15 |
Prof. Rasko | PROFESSOR JOHN RASKO, RPA HOSPITAL, SYDNEY: In cancer medicine more than any other area, I think it's always important to allow for hope, even in the most extreme cases. But we must always be vigilant in the medical profession against false hope. | 02:27 |
Prof Rasko at microscope/ Laboratory | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Professor John Rasko researches gene therapies at Sydney's Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He argues Gendicine has not been subject to thorough enough clinical testing to back up the claims made on its behalf. | 02:40 |
Prof. Rasko | PROFESSOR JOHN RASKO: Over 50 human clinical trails have been undertaken using this form of technology and yet there's still no compelling evidence to convince regulatory authorities in all countries except China that this is a routine form of therapy that should be introduced. | 02:54 |
McDonell with Dr Peng | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Dr Peng Zhaohui invented Gendicine. He acknowledges that his test results have not yet been published in a major international peer-reviewed medical journal. He says he expects to do this in the coming year. | 03:11 |
| Why are there not other countries smashing your door down and saying, 'Quickly, give us Gendicine', you know? ‘You've discovered the cure for cancer.' | 03:26 |
| DR PENG ZHAOHUI, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SIBIONO GENETECH: Yeah, it's a, it's a issue. In my opinion, some wise, wise people have some doubt for a new, for a new innovation in China. | 03:35 |
Slide under microscope | MCDONELL: Professor Rasko warns that foreign cancer patients are taking a risk by travelling to China for Gendicine therapy, which takes months. | 03:54 |
Prof Rasko | PROFESSOR JOHN RASKO: At the very least, it can mean that people are wasting their time, spending time that could otherwise be spent enjoying themselves. At the worst case, people spend their life savings and possibly bring on considerable suffering from unexpected side effects when they undertake experimental therapies like this that remain unproven. | 04:03 |
Philomena in wheelchair in hospital | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Travelling to China for Gendicine treatment is also certainly not a cheap option. RAINDA RIBEIRO: Each injection costs | 04:24 |
Rainda | $600. Mum gets two injections a week -- | 04:32 |
Philomena in hospital bed | one into her abdomen and one into her tumour. So that is going to be $1,200 a week. So far we've been here five weeks, we've spent, Australian, $30,000 on treatment. By the time we're done we're looking at treatment cost of $100,000. | 04:36 |
Mark going in to hospital room | STEPHEN MCDONELL: After five weeks in Beijing, Mark Moniz arrives to take his sister's place. It's a long process, but according to Dr Li, Mrs Moniz is a strong patient. DR LI DINGGANG: I think | 04:55 |
Dr Li | maybe 80 per cent possibility for her to get a benefit, get the good result from our therapy. | 05:07 |
| STEPHEN MCDONELL: 80 per cent? | 05:20 |
| DR LI DINGGANG: 80 per cent. | 05:21 |
Doctors look at x-rays | STEPHEN MCDONELL: But when the results come in after eight weeks of treatment, they're not what was expected. | 05:22 |
Philomena | PHILOMENA MONIZ: I thought it would work for me. And I've seen people walk out of here cancer free. | 05:28 |
Philomena has scan | So, with all that, you know, I really had great hopes and expectations. When he said that the tumour has grown, that was a little bit of a disappointment to me. DR LI DINGGANG: If we didn't | 05:34 |
Dr Li | use the Gendicine, if we didn't do the local injection of the Gendicine for her, maybe this cancer will grow so very quick, very big. Much bigger than now. | 05:50 |
Philomena has lunch in hospital | STEPHEN MCDONELL: Dr Li has given Philomena Moniz a series of new treatment options, but his big gun, Gendicine, has not worked for her. She goes home to Perth knowing that she's not beaten cancer the way she'd hoped. Though her trip to Beijing has been a huge financial and emotional strain on the family, they have nothing but praise for Dr Li and Gendicine. | 06:03 |
Philomena | PHILOMENA MONIZ: I don't regret coming here, because at least I can say that I've tried everything in the book. | 06:28 |
Farewell party for patients | STEPHEN MCDONELL: A lot of money is pouring into this hospital from international cancer patients. As the word of Gendicine spreads, the demand for the drug increases. Dr Li's department is expanding. Later this month a new wing with 50 beds will open. Western doctors may say the treatment here is unproven, but desperate cancer patients are prepared to give it a try. | 06:34 |
Credit: | Reporter: Stephen McDonell Production Company: ABC Australia - Foreign Correspondent | 07:00 |