The rare blushwood berry that grows only in the rainforests of Queensland, Australia, has been found to contain powerful cancer-fighting compounds. The active molecule is called EBC-46, and it is so potent that it can dissolve cancerous tumours within seven days, and other types of cancers in only 48 hours. Numerous clinical trials have shown great promise for treating cancer in laboratory animals, and the first human trials on a drug made from blushwood berries may have kept one woman from having her arm amputated.

Denise Powell, a cancer patient who is part of the trial, said the treatment had a radical effect on a tumour in her armpit. “My cancer surgeon had told me, ‘I can take that one out, but if you get any more you might lose your arm’.” She entered the trials for EBC-46 and was shocked to see how profound an effect it had when injected directly into the growth under her arm. “In less than 20 minutes the tumour had gone purple then black,” she added. “Then within a few days the tumour just kind of shrivelled up and died.”

EBC-46 works by triggering the body’s immune response. When it is injected into a cancerous tumour the body’s white blood cells are stimulated to attack the tumour and dispose of the cancerous cells. The compound is being tested on melanomas like skin cancer, and so far it has caused no side effects, and works faster than almost anything doctors have ever seen. QBiotics is the Australian company that is developing the treatment, and they urge caution despite the positive early results. Chief Executive Officer Dr Victoria Gordon clarified this by saying: “It is still too early to draw substantive conclusions about the potential for overall success of EBC-46 as a treatment for humans.”