It is known as dichloroacetic acid, or DCA, and Dr. Evangelos Michelakis, M.D., believes it could be the next breakthrough treatment in the fight against cancer, that is if a government entity or pharmaceutical company would ever be willing to put forth appropriate funding for human clinical trials.

But this is unlikely to happen anytime soon, as there is currently no patent on DCA, and thus no incentive for private industry to research its potential benefits as a cancer treatment -- it's all about the money, after all, not public health. And governments are likely to ignore DCA as well, even though the medical research funds they disburse are intended for this very type of research, which is otherwise overlooked by the private sector in favor of more profitable undertakings.