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- Cancer opus: How cancer patients are being sold supplements under the guise of medicine
Cancer opus: How cancer patients are being sold supplements under the guise of medicine
Hundreds of patients across the country bought a food supplement that was advertised as a drug for "specific fight and destruction of cancer cells". As cancer patients told Izvestia, they thought they were taking part in trials of this remedy and paid 10,000 rubles per bottle for it, but ended up spending hundreds of thousands. But after a course of the "innovative drug" their condition worsened, the victims say, confirming this with medical documents. Gennady Koshelev, founder of the Zhivaya Zemlya group of companies, whose employees sold the drug, claims that he never positioned this nutritional supplement as a cure for cancer, and considered the patients' complaints as one of the mechanisms of "raider seizure". Details of the scandal - in the material "Izvestia".
Magic peptides
Patients with cancer diagnoses appealed to the Investigative Committee with a mass complaint. According to them, since May 2024, they bought widely advertised in social networks drug "Peptide T-1", which was distributed by employees of the company "Live Earth". And it ended up being a food additive.
In his videos, the company's creator Gennady Koshelev announced the recruitment of an experimental group, whose participants can try out "Peptide T-1".
"This is an anti-oncology peptide," he said. - It is at the testing stage. There will only be 100 such drugs, it's really an innovation. A completely new approach to pharmacology is being taken."
The victim Irina Gusakova told Izvestia that she had been told about the miracle supplements by one of the participants in patient chats.
Irina Gusakova considers herself to be affected by taking Zhivaya Zemlya drugs
- She wrote to me in a private message and told me about the products "Live Earth", that there is black honey and fulvic acid, which can help me with oncology, - said the victim. -I read that black honey is sapropel, which is taken from the depths (a substance that is taken from the bottom of freshwater bodies. - Ed.), and it is very rich in vitamins and trace elements. I believed in this composition and decided to sign up for the campaign".
According to Irina Gusakova, at the time of meeting the company, she had the fourth stage of oncology and three and a half years of treatment. In May 2024, employees of Live Earth informed their clients that the company had "oncological peptides" that had "no analogues in the world."
- Allegedly, these peptides have been tested only on animals so far, and there are no documents on them," the woman said. - But we were told: "Why should you waste time in such a bad condition? It is desirable to start injecting them as soon as possible.
One bottle of peptide, according to the patient, cost Br10 thousand, she was persuaded to buy six - "on promotion", and another six were sent as a gift. The woman was injected with the drugs for three and a half months, during which she got worse and for a long time she had a temperature of up to 39 degrees Celsius.
In the voluntary consent, which she signed, it was stated that she was participating in "testing of cosmetic products of the group of companies "Zhivaya Zemlya".
Irina Gusakova suspected something wrong when the company sent other peptides after "oncological peptides", supposedly intended for the treatment of joint diseases. The patient turned to the company with these complaints, but they advised her to correct the situation with another "drug" - fulvic acid.
- They said they could sell it to me in big bottles and very, very cheap," she said. - So I bought three bottles from him, then twelve. I paid 50 thousand rubles, and in total - about 300 thousand for several months. The payment was made to a card opened in Koshelev's name (Izvestia has the checks).
According to the research protocol of the Blokhin Oncology Research Center (Izvestia has them), the patient's condition has worsened and new metastases have appeared in the months that have passed since the beginning of the peptide course.
The sister of another victim, Valentina (name changed), told Izvestia that her condition had worsened significantly while taking oncologic peptides (the woman has thyroid cancer).
- She was twisting, spinning, vomiting, but she still continued to take it, saying she had no other choice," Valentina said. - In the end, she couldn't work anymore, she was sick all the time and had a fever. Examinations confirmed the deterioration, although there had been progress in treatment before.
Valentina said that for the third year she had been working with Zhivaya Zemlya as a network partner. This allowed her to purchase the company's products with a partner discount. To join the company, you had to buy 19 thousand rubles worth of products and then sell them. At the same time, employees were required to bring new people into the corporation all the time, for which the "old-timers" were given bonuses that could be withdrawn in the form of money. But, according to the interviewee of Izvestia, there were problems with withdrawals, and many people were dissatisfied and quit the network business.
The sister of another victim Valentina (name changed)
- There were delays, we could wait six months for products," she said. - He [Koshelev] took money in advance, and took a very long time to deliver the products. He said it was a new product and logistics were lame, but he assured us that everything would work out. It all looks like a bubble that will burst sooner or later.
According to Valentina, Koshelev communicated with partners exclusively in messengers, as well as held webinars, for participation in which he took about 30 thousand rubles. The woman also noted that the drug "Erex 144", which the company positions as peptides for joints, is "a good drug, there are a lot of positive reviews for it".
In Valentina's opinion, Gennady Koshelev "entered the market with black honey and earned his credibility on it." In a video posted on the Live Earth channel, Koshelev says that their "vitamin factory creates unique dietary supplements that help thousands of people improve their quality of life."
Gennady Koshelev
There you can also learn about "microwave causes cancer," "what are the dangers of vitamin D," and "how to identify hormonal failure by hand," among other things.
"We don't just talk about the benefits of nature, we make the most of its power. Our main product is black honey," says Gennady Koshelev in the commercial. The company even has a separate hymn dedicated to this product.
Where "cancer supplements" are produced
The factory where the "innovative peptides" are produced is located in the village of Shikhan in the Ishimbaysky district of Bashkiria. On the facade of the enterprise is the inscription "Vitamin Plant". There is only a field around and no residential buildings, and the enterprise itself is surrounded by a high concrete fence.
A female employee of the plant told Izvestia that it is impossible to buy products on the spot, but only to order them through the company's website.
According to Gennady Koshelev, his company does not sell medicines, but deals with dietary supplements and cosmetic products: creams, shampoos, shower gels.
- "There are no cancer drugs, of course," he told Izvestia. - We do not position ourselves as those who treat cancer. We produce products for health, for replenishing vitamins, deficiencies.
A plant in the village of Shikhan, Ishimbay District, Bashkiria, where "innovative peptides" are produced
Gennady Koshelev added that "if someone says they are curing cancer, they are simply lying."
- Even modern medicine cannot cure it. We have drugs just for health. For example, black honey is a complex of components that people lack, because they are not in products," he said.
Ruslan Maksyutov, co-owner of the company, also supported him. He stated that there are no drugs that neutralize cancer cells, and also explained that "cancer occurs due to abnormalities in the work of all organs in the body, including the pituitary gland, hypothalamus, liver".
- There is an accumulative effect," he emphasized. - It can be formed from childhood, going up to the current moment. And some drug to neutralize cancer cells is a fantasy.
The two heads of the company called the situation with complaints about their drug as an attempt by competitors to "raid" their business.
- They threw in information that we make some drugs that cure cancer, - Gennady Koshelev was indignant. - But we don't get involved in pharmacology at all, we deal with health. There is no magic pill.
According to him, the company conducted preclinical studies of its supplements at the Clinical Research Center of Kirov State Medical University.
- There are good results, but no one claims that it cures cancer," Gennady Koshelev explained.
At the same time, in the Telegram channel of Live Earth, the video presentation of "Peptide T-1" states that it was created "for specific fight and destruction of cancer cells."
"As a result of animal studies and research, Peptide T-1 has shown high efficacy in selectively targeting a wide range of specific forms of cancer, including pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, leukemia, melanoma and other cancers," the presentation says.
It also explains how the new drug works: "The T-1 peptide is a non-toxic compound that causes only cancer cells to die, leaving all other healthy cells intact by attaching to the membranes of individual cancer cells, creating holes in them. This peptide appears to be a potentially potent and effective anti-cancer agent in the treatment of human cancer!"
"Izvestia" sent a request to the Kirov Medical University to confirm the fact of the trials, as well as to the Russian Ministry of Health and the territorial bodies of Rospotrebnadzor for the Kirov region and Bashkiria - about whether there was an authorization for the production of this dietary supplement and whether there were any complaints about it.
At the same time, Gennady Koshelev said that he filed an application with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Bashkiria (Izvestia has it) complaining about a "competitors' action".
- Our former partners are involved in this, they infiltrated our company, they started the whole thing, and at the moment the Interior Ministry is dealing with it," he said. - We sell dietary supplements and food products. There were a lot of customized articles when we first opened. We have existed as an official organization since 2021. We officially work through a current account, pay taxes, do charity work and so on.
According to Koshelev, several people from competitors took jobs with his company in 2023 and even took out one of the founders in 2024.
The founder and ideological inspirer of "Zhivaya Zemlya" has previously been tried twice, "Izvestia" found out. The city court of Sterlitamak (Bashkiria) in April 2018 found Gennady Koshelev guilty of intentional infliction of harm to health of medium severity, not dangerous to human life, but causing long-term health disorder, committed by a group of persons (part 2 of article 112 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). The court sentenced him to a suspended sentence, but noted that the aggravating circumstance was the recidivism of the crime.
In the public space Gennady Koshelev positions himself as a person who is actively engaged in charity and even has the title "Maecenas of the Year" and a diploma of Sterlitamak administration "For active charitable and public activities".
How clinical trials are conducted
Mikhail Laskov, an oncologist and founder of Dr. Laskov's Clinic, reminded Izvestia that any clinical trials are conducted without payment, and the drugs are given to the participants free of charge. He also noted that in a number of cases, healthy people may be paid extra for participation in clinical trials when conducting bioanalog studies (a copy of a biological drug obtained by genetic engineering).
- Patients are not paid extra, but they are guaranteed insurance, which provides coverage for treatment in case of side effects," the expert added.
Also, Mikhail Laskov noted that participants in a clinical trial must necessarily sign a consent to participate in the study and everyone has the right to withdraw from the trial at any time.
The described story has nothing to do with clinical trials, it is a clear fraud, the chief physician of the federal network of expert oncology clinics "Euroonco" Andrey Pylev told "Izvestia". He noted that cancer patients belong to one of the most vulnerable groups for various kinds of swindlers - they are ready to believe in anything that can give them hope for recovery.
- Dishonest and dishonest citizens take advantage of this," he emphasized.
Participation in clinical trials is always free of charge for patients, he noted. According to the expert, clinical trials are necessary for new regimens, drugs and methods to be included in clinical practice.
- As a rule, a study consists of a large number of stages. If we are talking about medicines, safety is tested first and only then efficacy, - said Andrei Pylev.
According to him, studies involve the analysis of large groups of patients, some of whom receive some regulated therapy for a given tumor type, another group receives the same regulated therapy plus some new drug, or different treatment regimens are compared.
A full-fledged trial, the expert emphasized, involves a large number of patients and implies the strictest control on the part of pharmaceutical manufacturers. The described situation has nothing to do with clinical trials, he concluded.
Igor Utyashev, an oncologist at Hadassah Clinic, noted that dietary supplements do not undergo clinical trials. Clinical trials are conducted only for medicines.
