“Years later I myself was diagnosed with prostate cancer,” Dayan continues. “The cancer was already outside of the prostate capsule, making it much more likely to spread. After seeing how Haelan had helped my father, I decided to try it myself before considering other treatments. I went for ultrasounds every few months to monitor my condition. First the cancer receded back into the capsule, and then it got smaller and smaller until it eventually disappeared completely. I’ve been cancer-free for 11 years.”

Joint Effort

It sounds too good to be true — can a concentrated soy concoction, unpleasant and expensive as it is ($48 a bottle, which comes to about $4,300 a month), really aid in the success of cancer treatment protocol? Besides for some anecdotal reports, is there objective evidence that Haelan leads to improved outcomes of treatment?

PubMed, a service that offers free online access to the abstracts of millions of medical and health studies and is under the umbrella of the NIH, has over ten thousand studies showing that the phytochemicals in fermented soy — and particularly one called genistein — contain anti-cancer properties. These studies, done both in vitro (on cells studied in the lab) and in vivo (on living organisms), have been published in journals such as Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and British Journal of Cancer.

One particular case history on Haelan at Massachusetts General Hospital was published in the journal Gynecologic Oncology in May 2005. It describes a woman with ovarian cancer who didn’t respond well to multiple rounds of chemo. She stopped the chemo and started taking Haelan, after which she experienced nine months without any symptoms, and no progression of her disease. When cancer markers started to elevate after nine months, she continued Haelan in conjunction with the original chemotherapy drug that the cancer was initially resistant to, this time with excellent results at the time the study was published — an indication that Haelan, while not curing the cancer on its own, boosted the effectiveness of the chemo.

Studies on live patients provide the strongest evidence that the product’s use as an adjuvant, to be used in conjunction with other treatment, is effective. An in vivo study in Europe on 17 patients with treatment-resistant terminal cancer (breast, ovarian, and prostate) was published in the journal Hormone Molecular Biology and Clinical Investigation (HMBCI) in 2011. All these patients were expected to die. They were given Haelan along with their previously ineffective chemotherapy for three months. Four years later, 16 out of 17 patients were still alive, with no further cancer growth. For three of them, their tumors shrunk to the point that they were able to have surgery, and were then deemed cancer free. Researchers attributed these results to improved immunity and nutrition conferred by the Haelan, as well as to its synergistic effect with the chemotherapy.

The anti-inflammatory properties of Haelan, they believe, helped prevent the cancer cells from becoming resistant to the chemotherapy, majorly boosting its effectiveness. The National Cancer Institute has verified at least nine cases of terminal cancer patients — including those with metastatic pancreatic and liver cancers — going into remission after using Haelan.

While the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center provides information on Haelan, it doesn’t use the product as a treatment for cancer.

Dr. Azriel Hirschfeld — an oncologist renowned for his cutting-edge cancer treatments, who has an office in the Maimonides Cancer Center and shares a practice in the Bronx with Dr. Howard Bruckner, world leader in the field of medical oncology — isn’t yet ready to sign an endorsement, either.

“Often, cancer patients are desperate to latch onto anything that can give them hope, even when the ‘treatment’ isn’t legitimate,” Dr. Hirschfeld says. “Even so, I’m open-minded when it comes to complementary approaches — about 80 percent of my patients take some kind of supplement, and I’m currently doing a study on the potential role of vitamin C in the treatment of pancreatic cancer. But I am concerned when patients forego conventional, proven treatments and pursue unproven alternatives.

“The material on Haelan sounds intriguing enough that I’m eager to try it on my patients and see for myself what effect it has, after hearing the strong anecdotal support coming from multiple first-hand sources. I’m aware, though, that patients don’t always relate their experiences one hundred percent accurately, so seeing how my own patients respond to it will ultimately form my opinion of its benefit.”

Dr. Hirschfeld points out that there are standard medical explanations when a patient recovers, even when the odds are against him. “The placebo effect, which is accepted by the mainstream medical community, can certainly make people feel better,” he says. “And everybody experiences chemotherapy differently — not everyone loses their hair, and some have minimal side effects.”

Strong Enough for Chemo

Rabbi Kairy, who has discussed Haelan at length with Dr. Hirschfeld, believes that patients don’t have to wait passively and see how they react individually to chemo. From his experience with patients he’s counseled, Haelan is helpful in minimizing or eliminating the side effects —especially when starting on Haelan at least two weeks before standard treatment in order to get the best protection from its harsh consequences.

“Four years ago a father from Lakewood called me about his 16-year-old son, Yosef Klein. He had a large cancerous tumor between his nose and ear. The idea of treatment was overwhelming, and when he heard about Haelan’s potential to reduce side effects, he asked, ‘You mean I won’t lose my hair?’ I told him that I couldn’t guarantee it, but it has happened in the past. He said, ‘Okay, I’ll drink the mud.’ He started on the Haelan two weeks prior to beginning treatment, and not only did he not lose his hair, he didn’t miss a single day of yeshivah in between multiple rounds of chemo — and his parents told me no one was able to tell he was going through treatment.

“Yosef’s doctors expected his tumor to shrink by 60 to 70 percent after his course of chemotherapy treatment. Instead, he went into complete remission.”

Yosef is baruch Hashem able to tell his story today as a memory. “I was on two strong chemo drugs, for six cycles over six months, plus 37 days of radiation,” he relates. “The doctors told me they were sure my hair would fall out, that I should expect fevers requiring hospitalization, and that I definitely wouldn’t grow any taller after the treatment. Well, not one hair fell out from the chemo, I never got a fever or required hospitalization, and I grew another two inches. When my doctor saw me with a full head of hair, he didn’t believe it was real and tugged on it to see if it was a wig.

“Two days after the chemo cycles I was hanging out with my friends and eating ice cream, which to my knowledge is unheard of. My ‘cancer friends’ who’ve been on these same drugs all lost their hair and were much sicker during their chemo. The only thing I did differently was drink Haelan. It was nasty, it stunk, but I knew it helped me; I put Stevia in it and eventually got used to it.”

Yosef’s oncologist, Dr. Michael Hogarty of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia — who had the ingredients in Haelan researched by the hospital’s clinical pharmacy team before giving Yosef the go-ahead to take it — admitted that the odds of someone on that particular chemotherapy protocol doing so well were minimal.

“Hair loss and stunted growth would be very likely, and I would’ve expected one to three fevers over the course of his treatment, so Yosef’s response was certainly unusual,” explains Dr. Hogarty. “That said, everyone metabolizes drugs at different rates. If they’re metabolized rapidly, healthy cells are exposed to less toxicity, which can result in reduced side effects. Yosef’s case is a good anecdote, but I wouldn’t necessarily give the credit to the Haelan. If I’d see such results time after time with patients taking Haelan, I’d be impressed.”

Dr. Cary Gota is a retired oncologist, formerly of the Los Angeles Cancer Network, Hematology/Oncology. He’s studied Haelan’s mechanism of action, and believes that it increases the effectiveness of standard treatment. “I first came across Haelan 20 years ago,” he says, “I studied the research on it, as well as on genistein, its main active ingredient, and was impressed enough to encourage my hard-to-treat patients to take it. I’ve had patients on Haelan who have quickly gained enough strength to allow them to participate in further discussion of their chemotherapy regimen. While I can’t say it’s helped my patients every single time, I’ve seen it to be very beneficial in many cases, and some patients’ responses to it have been much greater than anticipated.

“I believe that when patients are in a better nutritional state, they tolerate chemotherapy much better, and the chemotherapy can be more effective in fighting the cancer. Cancer cells are very resourceful and often develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs. In addition to its other anti-cancer properties, Haelan blocks the pathway that allows cancer cells to adapt to the drugs, therefore boosting the effectiveness of chemotherapy. I once had a patient who was dying. Three days after starting Haelan, she was walking around, feeling much better. But she couldn’t handle the awful taste and stopped taking it, passing away soon after. In my experience, many patients who start Haelan, even if it makes them feel better, aren’t able to finish the course because the odor and taste are so terrible.”

Rabbi Kairy agrees that while the success stories sound impressive, many people don’t end up following through with the program.

“Drinking Haelan sounds easier than it is,” he says. “The general recommendation is four ounces twice a day. Not only is the taste challenging, it can leave an unpleasant, lingering aftertaste. The company tried to make it in pill form, but it wasn’t nearly as effective. And when people aren’t convinced it will help them, the taste alone can be enough to discourage them from using it —although it can also be administered by retention enema, which is more tedious, or put into a feeding tube if needed.

“There are other reasons people stop taking it. The three-month course costs over $4,000, although some insurance plans have reimbursed in the past. Sometimes family members discourage it, not understanding the benefits. Other times families are inundated with suggestions from so many well-meaning people that they wind up pursuing less helpful avenues.”

There’s also the issue of obscurity. “Many oncologists aren’t familiar with it,” Rabbi Kairy says. “Medical doctors in general are skeptical of natural approaches, and don’t spend time researching them. Also, there are hundreds of alternative methods out there, many of which have no substantiation, and Haelan can get lost in the heap of ‘alternative’ — even though it’s an adjunct to treatment, not an alternative. Doctors unfamiliar with the product sometimes tell patients not to take it out of concern it may interfere with their treatment — but no one, to my knowledge, has ever reported that it interfered with treatment in any way. I always encourage people to bring the Haelan research to their doctors, yet they’re often  afraid to jeopardize their standing with their doctors by rocking the boat.”

If Haelan is so effective, why has it been FDA-approved as a food supplement, but not approved as a drug?

Rabbi Kairy explains how FDA approval for drugs works: “In order to gain FDA approval, drugs must go through an extensive and very costly series of clinical trials,” he says. “Drug companies invest hundreds of millions of dollars on research and development of drugs that they believe have the potential to help patients, with the expectation that their investment will eventually be remunerated many times over. Haelan is not high on marketability, because of its very unpleasant taste and smell, which some patients find simply intolerable.”

Rabbi Kairy says he once spoke with the president of a pharmaceutical company who has spent his career bringing drugs to FDA approval. “He told me that for a product like Haelan 951, it would be almost impossible to get FDA approval. This is because there are dozens of biologically active compounds in it, and each one would need separate testing before the substance as a whole could be approved. He said that with the present guidelines, this would take at least 20 years, and an astronomical amount of money, making it an unrealistic venture.”

The True Healer

While Rabbi Kairy spends his mornings tending to the spiritual needs of young Jewish souls, helping people navigate the maze of confusion when it comes to their physical survival is greatly rewarding as well.

“There are times I’m on the phone well into the night helping people find the appropriate tools and methods for supportive care — I’m on call for my clients as much as possible, other than when I’m in the classroom,” he says. “I do my best, but feel terrible when people turn to me at the last minute when it’s often too late — although I can attest that there have been turnarounds even at very late stages.

“Because we need hishtadlus in the physical realm, it makes sense to utilize something that has a good track record. But in the end it’s not Haelan, chemotherapy, or anything else — it’s all Hashem. I constantly remind myself and share with my patients the understanding that just as cancer is the will of Hashem, so too the refuah is according to the will of Hashem; so more important than anything else are tefillah and our spiritual merits.”

SOYBEANS SECURE CELLS

How do phytochemicals in the fermented soybean work against cancer?

“Cancer cells produce their own network of blood vessels, in order to be nourished and survive,” Rabbi Kairy explains. “This process of creating blood vessels is called angiogenesis. Genistein, a phytochemical in fermented soy, has been shown to inhibit the cancer cell’s ability to create this network of blood vessels, resulting in cancer-cell starvation.

“But that’s not all. After a healthy cell divides, the original cell dies in a process called apoptosis. But when a cancer cell divides, the original cell doesn’t die, resulting in the out-of-control cell growth that is the very definition of cancer. Haelan turns on the gene in the cancer cell that restores apoptosis, causing cancer-cell death.”

An in-vitro study done in 2005 by the Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit found that when genistein was used in conjunction with chemotherapy, the apoptosis rate for prostate, breast, lung, and pancreas cells was significantly higher than when cancer treatment was used alone. The cancer cells treated with genistein had eight to ten times more cell death than the group that received standard treatment only.

A study in Germany similarly showed that when Haelan was used in conjunction with chemotherapy, there was two to three times greater expression of the gene that causes apoptosis, and significantly lower doses of chemotherapy were needed to achieve the same kill rate of cancer cells.

“Another important point,” Rabbi Kairy explains, “is that when cancer cells are exposed to chemotherapy and/or radiation, they sometimes mutate, becoming resistant to treatment. This is a big weakness of chemotherapy. Research has shown that anti-inflammatory properties in Haelan shut down the mechanism that allows cancer cells to mutate, thereby keeping them vulnerable to chemotherapy.

“Furthermore, Haelan has been shown to boost the immune system by about 700 percent, allowing the patient’s own immune system to be more effective in combating the cancer.”

And yet another anti-cancer mechanism: The DNA in our cells is routinely damaged, but most of the time chromosomes repair the damage. Unrepaired cells can become cancerous, but researchers believe that genistein repairs damaged DNA, converting cancer cells back into essentially normal cells. A study published in 2006 in the journal, The Prostate showed that genistein induced “differentiation” of prostate cancer cells, meaning they were converted back to normal cells.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Issue 640)