Author tries raising money for cancer cure

A British author says he wants raise up to $3 million for a trial of a potential treatment to help his editor who has the same cancer that killed Steve Jobs. Alexander Masters, author of "Stuart: A Life Backwards," said his editor, Dido Davies, has a rare form of cancer called a neuroendocrine tumor. Masters' research led him to a researcher in Sweden who might have a treatment sitting in his freezer but the research is stymied by a lack of funds, The Sunday Telegraph reported. However, Masters said the research could begin tomorrow -- it would take about 10 years for all three clinical trials to be completed -- if a banker, a rock star, a movie star or even Apple, the company founded by Jobs, donated the money. He's trying to raise at least $1.6 million and up to $3 million. Masters wrote about his discovery of Professor Magnus Essand of Uppsala University in Sweden in the Telegraph's Sunday Magazine. Essand said his cancer-eating virus was potentially "better than anything else." The researcher is hindered because in Sweden scientists publish their research and therefore his modified virus could no longer be patented and without a patent to make the virus commercial, no pharmaceutical company will invest, Masters said in his article. Therefore, Essand's team must rely on private donations. If the money can be raised, Davies might have better odds because in Europe, once test samples are approved and ready for use, Essand could start offering the medicine, on an individual basis, to patients who sign a waiver confirming saying they assume all risk. Within 18 months, Essand could start his human case-studies. Those interested in the research can visit www.uu.se/en/support/oncolytic.