Shark cartilage extract - AE-941 or Neovastat - has been found to have no benefit as therapeutic agent in combination with chemotherapy and radiation for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Such were the conclusions of researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center led by Charles Lu, M.D.(associate professor in M. D. Anderson's Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology).

Phases I and II studies of this extract have suggested some benefit to patients with lung and renal cancers when AE-941 was given at higher doses - based on the hypotheses that the cartilage contains inhibitors of angiogenesis and the public's belief that the incidence of cancer in this cartilaginous fish is very rare.

However, Phase III studies initiated at the request of (and was supported by) the National Cancer Institute (NCI) said otherwise.

According to Dr. Lu, principal investigator of the said study:

"Clearly, these results demonstrate that AE-941 is not an effective therapeutic agent for lung cancer. So, too, these findings have to cast major skepticism on shark cartilage products that are being sold for profit and have no data to support their efficacy as cancer-fighting agent.

Patients who are currently taking shark cartilage should be very cautious in accepting that the therapy will be beneficial.

We have absolutely no data showing improvements in survival, tumor shrinkage and/or clinical benefits to patients.

Now when patients ask their oncologists about shark cartilage, physicians can point to this large NCI-sponsored Phase III trial and tell patients that, at this point, the only studies that have been done with cartilage-derived products have been negative."

Unlike other shark cartilage compounds previously studied, Neovastat was never sold over-the-counter.

Aeterna Zentaris developed Neovastat as a pharmaceutical opposing shark cartilage compounds sold for profit that is available over the Internet.

The findings have been presented at the recent annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.

Read the full report.

[In photo: Shark Cartilage (750 mg) 100 caps available via Amazon]

On a personal note: I drowned in the numerous selections of shark cartilage compounds available as supplement in Amazon alone...too bad it is not even an effective cancer therapeutic agent.

How many people have wasted their money on these kinds of supplements?!