In 1994, I started working for Dvorit Samid. She didn't let me know that one of those compounds is from Dr. Burzynski.  You know, she just said, "Phenylacetate," and show me all the published papers about phenylacetate and its analogs, and their anti-cancer activity.

It was quite amazing in the lab, because if you find a compound that has anti-cancer activity, and then you find a bunch of analogs, it's like you stumbling upon a pile of gold. So people would think and say, you know, "patents, patents, patents," you know, that sort of thing.

Dvorit, under her leadership, we found a lot of biological activities in these compounds. So it would have anti-cancer activity. So the scientists at Johns Hopkins tried to patent these compounds, but of course, Dvorit was working with Elan Pharmaceutical company at that time, so those guys at Johns Hopkins didn't have any chance of patenting those compounds.

In 1995, in the lab, I was still with Dvorit, but I smelled fishy, something is not right. The first paper Dvorit published about phenylacetate, if you look at the methodology section, there's a "BRI" abbreviation. She got materials from the Burzynski Research Institute, Houston, Texas. But it didn't say, "Burzynski Research Institute." For us, as scientists, it's a funny practice.

In the past, when the NCI (National Cancer Institute) or its assigned entity is conducting an alternative cancer therapy [clinical trial], they always alter the protocols and let it fail -- to discredit the therapy. But this time the pharmacokinetic data shows that they didn't do it right. And most scientists will not look at it carefully. Because papa is telling you something, and you don't question him.

They sometimes have a creed -- it's to 'separate the medicine from the medicine man.' Of course these 'higher-ups' at the NCI, or whatever, they think 'Hey guys, we've been doing this for years. We know what's going on.' So they think, 'Well, we know what's going on with phenylacetate, phylacetylglutamine."  If you can outsmart the medicine man, you can cut a piece of the pie for yourself. That's the name of the game.

If you cannot be the first one, if you can be the second one, and be bigger than the first one -- Steal. Why not? That's the mentality. Under the capitalist sun, there is nothing sacred. Money talks.

-- Li-Chuan Chen, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute Scientist 1991-1997