For more than 20 years, Cubans have been treating cancer patients with blue scorpion venom. ESCOZUL, is a mix of distilled water and drops of venom from the blue scorpion Rhopalurus junceus. It is only produced in Cuba as the species can only be found there. It has demonstrated cancer-fighting properties and anti-tumor activity against different types of cancer and also has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. Over 2000 cancer patients take ESCOZUL each month. 90% of patients have shown improvement in their quality of life after 2 to 3 months of starting the treatment. Among the most significant cases are 187 patients who were terminally ill or in very advanced stages of the disease when they started taking the ESCOZUL and have survived for over 8 years with very good quality of life, and these amazing results have been achieved without causing any side effects. Thousands have also attested to pain relief, increased muscle strength, and renewed energy while on the medicine.

For 18 years the Cuban government laboratories LABIOFAM have been distributing this for free. Labiofam claims to have studied the effects of the venom on 10,000 patients, including 3,500 foreigners, but there is no public compilation of the methodology. No independent experts have conducted experiments, and none of Labiofam’s work has been submitted for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Thus the medical world is skeptical and believes continued research is needed. However, the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Biotechnology Institute of Mexico’s largest university), have confirmed the venom formula to be nontoxic to mammals.

Experiments on rats by Labiofam have shown that treatments with high concentrations of ESCOZUL can inhibit up to 55% of pain and up to 38% of inflammation. They have found that the higher concentration of the drug, the greater its power to inhibit tumor growth. However the concentration and dosage of the drug depends on both the type of cancer, and the progression of the disease. When applied at the beginning of the disease, it should be used at least from three months to one year, aiming to eradicate the disease. In advanced staged patients, the aim of the treatment is to stop cancer growth and improve the quality of life. ESCOZUL is usually consumed for a long time and dependent on the body’s response to treatment.

Scorpion venom has been used for centuries in healing in Chinese traditional medicine, which uses Mesobuthus martensii scorpions to treat various neuronal problems, such as chronic pain, paralysis, apoplexy andepilepsy. Over the past few decades, dozens of novel proteins in this scorpion’s venom have been identified, cloned and investigated for clinical applications.

In October 2003, CNN reported how Niurys Monzon, 28, is a living proof that it works. “I was eleven when I was diagnosed,” she said, “and started taking Escozul when I was fifteen.” In 1992, her cancer of the pancreas had spread despite 2 years of chemotherapy, radiation treatment and three operations. Doctors had had given up. In desperation, her father turned to a man named Misael Bordier, a biologist from Guantanamo who was experimenting with scorpion venom on cancerous tumors in rats and dogs and begged Bordier for some venom. “The immune system of the benign cells increases, the malignant cells start dying and the tumors shrink or disappear,” according to Bordier and that “We saw how some 85 percent of the rats survived.” Niurys became his first human patient and she and her father were so grateful they began breeding scorpions and under Bordier’s direction distributed the venom at no cost from their home. Since then 60,000 Cubans have used the Escozul to treat their cancer in just over a decade.

Labiofam approached Bordier several years later after Monzon and began tests confirming the treatment’s safety. As the government health authorities couldn’t approve the medicine for sale so quickly, the company found a loophole by distributing it freely. As more and more people came for the treatment, Cuba’s State Control Center for Medicine, Equipment, and Medicinal Products (CECEMD) became anxious — the country’s equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration — and was compelled to issue warnings regarding scorpion treatment. “Cuba does not yet have any pharmaceutical product based on the venom of the blue scorpion,” Dr. Rafael Pérez Cristiá, director of Cuba’s Regulatory Bureau for the Health Protection and Center for Quality Control, said in 2009. “At this moment, we do not have the documented evidence of the therapeutic action… that would justify its safe and efficient usage.”

ESCOZUL reputation continued and daily number of patients went up exponentially. It is estimated that a patient with advanced cancer needs the venom from approximately 300 scorpions for three months of treatment. The only problem is there aren’t enough little blue scorpions to meet the demand, as the reproduction of the blue scorpion in captivity is very difficult. Even though each female scorpion gives birth to about 42 to 47 live young, they easily die in a laboratory. The venom is extracted by a mild electric shock, which causes considerable damage to the scorpion over time. Therefore they are only kept for a limited time, then set free into their natural environment to breed.

LABIOFAM announced in September 2010 at a scientific meeting in Havana, that they would replace ESCOZUL with a homeopathic version that has been registered under the name of VIDATOX. It is not free, costing US$230 per month of treatment and can be purchased in Cuba at the international pharmacies. Labiofam has secured homeopathic licenses for Vidatox in 22 countries: China, Albania, and several Latin America countries. However, neither the United States, Canada, nor any European state has cleared Vidatox.

However, Escozul-Cancer.com, a website created by cancer patients and family member’s members with cancer who testify to the benefits of ESCOZUL, claim that VIDATOX anticancer effectiveness is unproven and only has analgesic properties.  This is due to the fact that the homeopathic version does not follow the principle of concentrated doses, considered so important in the treatment process. Based on the experimentally proven evidence: the higher the concentration of venom and the dose volume, better medical outcomes may be obtained. VIDATOX is produced in the opposite way, taking the venom of one scorpion to produce homeopathic doses to thousands of patients. Which is based on the homeopathic principle that “water remembers the properties of the venom.” It is considered that it may have a placebo effect, but ultimately its effectiveness has been considered as zero. Labiofam still makes the original, drinkable formula but has stopped its all-access distribution program.

Nowadays, the original ESCOZUL in its concentrated form can only be obtained through Cuban independent producers in Matanzas and Guantanamo, who continue to provide the drug free of charge. Although the ESCOZUL concentrate is free, Cuba is an expensive country. Making it is expensive and time consuming to travel there every two or three months. There are cases where people have travelled to Cuba and are unable to obtain ESCOZUL due to the high demand. It is advised to travel with a pre-established date, otherwise you won´t be received. People may be found to transport the treatment, but the expiration time of ESCOZUL is about 10 days when it is not stored at low temperatures. The frozen ESCOZUL can last up to 14 months.

There are also many sources on the internet about ESCOZUL or intermediary providers outside of Cuba. However, not all are reliable. Many providers claim false facts about ESCOZUL and how they get it and care must be taken. Some sites seem more trustworthy than others, such as LifEscozul, which claims to work in direct coordination with Monzón and Bordier’s family. They mainly serve Europe, and can either arrange travel to Cuba or copies of the patient’s medical history can be sent to the producers so they can prepare a personalized treatment for shipment.

References & Further Reading:
Cancer Prevention
Escozul-Cancer.com
Miami New Times – Blue Scorpion Venom: Cuba’s Miracle Drug
CNN – Scorpion Venom: A Cure for Cancer?