Neon Beach

8/30/2005 5:16 PM
By: Ivanhoe Broadcast News

David Copeland has advanced prostate cancer, but that doesn't stop him from doing what he loves.

"I can afford a couple bad days of the week for the good days," he said.

On the bad days, he recovers from chemotherapy. It's his last hope after surgery, radiation and hormone treatments. And he's quick to report on how it is working.

"Great. I'm here. It's wonderful," he said.

But his chemo is different before each treatment. He takes an experimental drug called DN-101.

"DN-101 is a pill that contains an activated vitamin D at very high concentrations, designed specifically for cancer therapy," oncologist Dr. Thomas Beer said.

Beer helped invent the new drug.

"It changes the biology of the cancer cell and makes it more prone to dying when the chemotherapy is around," he said.

Concentrated Vitamin D

Vitamin D has been shown to help men fight off prostate cancer.

In a recent study, 250 men received chemotherapy. Half of them were also given the potent form of Vitamin D. Those men lived seven months longer than the men who received chemo alone.

"It is a big deal for several reasons. First of all, these patients have the toughest form of prostate cancer there is," Beer said.

The drug offers the longest survival benefit yet for patients with advanced prostate cancer. Copeland started taking the drug two years ago and says he may not be alive today without it.

"I feel good, and I feel like I'm going to do two more years and two more years and two more years," Copeland said.

That's plenty of time to create the perfect hybrid.

This is the first time Vitamin D has been known to extend the lives of patients with prostate cancer. The new drug isn't FDA approved and Beer warns patients not to substitute over-the-counter Vitamin D.

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