In March 1951, Andrew Ivy—at the time, one of the most renowned scientists and medical ethicists in the U.S.—held a press conference in Chicago to announce Krebiozen, a recently discovered wonder drug that Ivy said could dramatically help cancer patients.
The announcement created a frenzy among cancer patients, who deluged the University of Illinois's Chicago campus, where Ivy was vice president in charge of the professional schools at the time, with telephone calls trying to obtain it. But within a few months, Krebiozen was denounced by the American Medical Association, and a few years later, Ivy, the drug's creator Stevan Durovic and some of their supporters were prosecuted for fraud. The dramatic Krebiozen saga culminated in Durovic fleeing the U.
S., Ivy's reputation in ruins and two of his U. of I.
colleagues—President George Stoddard and Provost Coleman Griffith—ousted from their positions, in part because of their association with the scandal. "The Krebiozen Hoax: How a Mysterious Cancer Drug Shook Organized Medicine," a new book by Matthew C. Ehrlich, a professor emeritus of journalism at the U.
of I., examines the controversial drug's dramatic rise and fall. Although the sensational story of Krebiozen has since faded into obscurity, Ehrlich said that its lessons are relevant today, offering potent reminders about the dangers of medical misinformation, misplaced trust and the unquestioning adoption of unproven treatments.
"The Krebiozen Hoax" is also a cautiona.