Cancer drug trial goes on

By CHRISTOPHER DIEM, Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — Testimony continued Wednesday in the trial of an Upper Peninsula man accused of illegally selling cow’s milk as a cancer treatment.


William Howard Schroeder, of Carney, who is a former Wisconsin dairy farmer, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of introducing a misbranded drug into interstate commerce. Both counts are punishable by up to three years in prison.


According to testimony and evidence during the trial, Schroeder claimed that bovine colostrum — milk produced by cows after they give birth — could help fight cancer. The colostrum is rich with antibodies and is needed by calves to survive their first few days.


In a recorded conversation with an undercover federal agent from 2003, Schroeder allegedly said he injected pregnant cows with the blood of cancer patients. The antibodies produced in the colostrum would then be disease specific. After the birth of the calf, the colostrum would be collected, bottled and taken orally by the person wishing to be treated, Schroeder said.


The Food and Drug Administration said the colostrum did not contain labeling bearing adequate directions for use and was manufactured and prepared on a farm in Niagara, Wis., which was not registered with the FDA.


Both conditions must be met in order to sell drugs. According to the FDA a “drug” is something intended for use in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment or prevention of disease in man.


Marquette attorney Tom Casselman, representing Schroeder, said directions for use were clearly given to Special Agent Larry Dennelly — posing as Larry Donovan, the father of a fictitious 8-year-old girl suffering from leukemia — in a taped telephone call with Schroeder.


Casselman asked Dennelly if the FDA started the investigation with the intent to deceive Schroeder into selling bovine colostrum.


“If he were reluctant to sell bovine colostrum the investigation would have ended after the first call,” Dennelly said.


Casselman asked if the story of the 8-year old girl was developed to invoke sympathy and convince Schroeder to proceed with the sale.


Dennelly said the story was used because the FDA had heard a similar story involving a father whose child was treated by Schroeder.


On Wednesday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner called witnesses for the prosecution, including Dennelly, Special Agent William Conway — who led the investigation — and Michael Myers, a research scientist for the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine.


Myers said all female mammals produce colostrum after they give birth, but it only bolsters the immune system of newborns for the first few days of life.


He said for the first 24 to 48 hours after birth, mammals’ stomachs are permeable, and large molecules — such as concentrated amounts of antibodies in colostrum — can be absorbed into the body. After that short period, however, large molecules can no longer easily pass through to the body.


Antibodies, also known as immunoglobulins, are used by the immune system to identify and neutralize foreign objects in the body, like bacteria or viruses.


Myers said after a 28-year career studying immunoglobulins, he has not found any peer-reviewed research that suggests bovine colostrum could be a treatment for cancer.


According to the FDA, Schroeder introduced the drug into interstate commerce by crossing the Michigan/Wisconsin border in order to deliver the colostrum from Niagara, Wis. — where it was produced — to Kingsford where Dennelly was waiting in the parking lot of a Burger King.


Casselman argued the FDA set up the meeting point in Kingsford so that Schroeder would cross the state line, establishing the charge against him.


Dennelly said the meeting was set in a public place in Kingsford so that the meeting could safely and easily be observed by special agents.


Additionally, Lochner said Schroeder was willing to ship the colostrum from Wisconsin to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Dennelly — posing as Donovan — said he lived.