“Dr. Crawford’s mother told us her daughter had scheduled a press conference that was supposed to take place yesterday morning,” Dupree said. “Do you know the nature of that press conference?”
“Lauren had been working very closely with Dominic Gallo, Deputy Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, a division of the FDA responsible for reviewing data and clinical studies on proposed new drugs and treatments. With Gallo’s assistance, Lauren planned to announce that Horizon was only months away from submitting an application to the FDA for an extraordinary treatment that could lead to a cure for certain cancers.”
“So, who’s going to follow through with this now that she’s out of the picture?”
“Good question. Now that Lauren has paved the way, I’m sure there would be several takers in the research community. In fact, Hyland Laboratories, the biggest pharmaceutical company in the world, contacted us about a year ago with a proposal to form a partnership. With their resources, it would have dramatically improved our operation. But Lauren, strong willed and often stubborn, turned them down. Hyland may still be interested in a partnership, but at this particular juncture, we’re in crisis mode and to be honest, I’m not even thinking about a successor.”
“Tell me something, Dr. Mason,” Dupree said. “Considering the sensitivity of the data and research you deal with every day, how do you protect it?”
“All of the data, clinical trials, and the FDA application are stored on a secure server with what they call an Advanced Encryption Standard System similar to what the U.S. government uses for top secret files. It is also backed up through an independent data protection company. Only Lauren and I had authority to access the information on the server. Lauren regularly downloaded the latest data to her laptop. On the afternoon before Lauren was murdered, she and I downloaded virtually everything on the server to her laptop computer because she was planning to work from home on some very critical statistics and needed all the research data. Her goal was to submit some preliminary documents to the FDA before the end of the week. Unfortunately, when she was murdered, she was carrying her computer and also a back-up hard drive. So, whoever murdered her likely has the computer and hard drive with all of the statistics and clinical trials results.”
“Did Dr. Crawford’s computer have a security system to protect the data?” Dupree asked.
“Yes, a very sophisticated system. One that is nearly impossible to hack into.”
“What does ‘nearly impossible’ mean?”
“The system on Lauren’s computer has a unique feature. If someone tries to gain access and doesn’t input an exact series of passwords, the system is designed to crash the hard drive and make recovery of the data impossible. However, nothing is so secure that some computer whiz can’t override it.”
“So what happens now?” Dupree asked. “Is the research project on hold?”
Mason nodded. “First off, with Lauren gone, our funding ends. Our benefactor made it abundantly clear when he agreed to fund this project that he would only do so if Lauren ran the show. No Lauren, no money. In the spirit of science and medicine, I’ll appeal to him, of course, but I really don’t have much hope. We’ve got enough money to operate this place for another thirty days—not nearly enough time to prepare everything we need for the FDA. And even if we had funding, without Lauren, picking up where she left off would be very difficult. Lauren was, perhaps, the only person on earth qualified to complete this research. She had a handle on every aspect of the project. Even if a savior came down from the heavens and assumed Lauren’s role, we still need a financial partner or we’re out of business.”
Dupree processed what Dr. Mason said. “I can understand how someone would benefit from stealing all the data and developing their own drugs using Dr. Crawford’s research. But why murder her?”
“It’s feasible that the killer not only wanted Lauren’s computer, but also wanted to be sure that whatever sensitive information lived only in her brain and wasn’t yet recorded, went to the grave with her.” Mason paused and seemed to be gathering his thoughts. “We can’t ignore the possibility that whoever stole this information may have wanted to suppress it rather than develop it.”
“Why in the name of all that’s reasonable would anyone want to suppress research that could result in developing a cure for cancer?” Dupree asked.
“It’s no secret that the drug industry is a huge, multi-billion dollar money machine. They make most of their money treating diseases, not curing them.”
“So,” Dupree said, “if Dr. Crawford’s research proved valid, and the treatment was effective, many cancer-treating drugs marketed by competing drug companies would become obsolete and they might stand to lose significant money?”
“Billions. Once patented and approved by the FDA, the developer of the drug would have exclusive distribution rights for seven years.
“That certainly adds another dimension to the investigation,” Dupree said. “Tell me, Dr. Mason, how did this whole research idea come about? When we spoke to Dr. Crawford’s mother, she told us about her pancreatic cancer and the treatment she received at the Century Nutrition Clinic in Tijuana. She said that three years ago the doctors in America gave her six months to live. Is there some kind of miracle treatment for cancer patients in Tijuana?”
“Let me preface my answer by first giving you some background on Dr. Hulda Clark.”
Dupree remembered Mrs. Crawford talking about her daughter’s relationship with Dr. Clark.
Mason adjusted himself in the seat and rested his chin on his folded hands. “I’m not going to get too technical but here’s the story. Clark had a doctoral degree with an emphasis in biophysics and cell physiology. She wrote several books describing her methods of treating cancer and she operated a number of clinics in the U.S. Perhaps her most controversial book was titled, The Cure for all Cancers. Following a series of legal difficulties and actions by the Federal Trade Commission, she was pretty much run out of the country and relocated to Tijuana, Mexico where she launched the Century Nutrition Clinic. One of her fundamental theories was that all cancer patients had two things in common. First, they all had parasites in their intestines called flukes. Second, they all had high levels of isopropyl alcohol in their bloodstream. For healthy people, the flukes pose no major problems because most parasitic eggs pass out of our bodies with bowel movements. But some eggs hatch and get into your blood stream.” Mason paused and drank some water.
“Under normal conditions, our liver kills the hatchlings. However, for people who have a high level of isopropyl alcohol in their bodies, the liver is unable to trap and kill these flukes. So, they settle in any host organ that is unhealthy—like a smoker’s lungs, a breast with a benign tumor, an enlarged prostate, or low functioning kidneys. The hatchlings begin to reproduce at an out-of-control pace. Once they become adult parasites, they feed off the infected organs.
“When adult parasites infest your liver, a growth factor called ortho-phospho-tyrosine appears. This causes normal cells to divide uncontrollably and ultimately produce cancer cells. The only way that the fluke parasite can live outside of your intestines and exponentially reproduce is if isopropyl alcohol is present in your body.