A centuries-old Chinese herbal remedy is showing striking results in treating patients with advanced prostate cancer, even winning support from doctors. 

The blend of eight herbs, used by an estimated 10,000 men and sold over the counter, appears to reduce signs of tumor growth in patients who have exhausted all conventional treatments, according to studies in two well-regarded medical journals.

The product is sold as  PC SPES. Being a herbal product its being sold on the counter and without any regulation. Physicians are also worried because the supplement carries the risk of serious side effects. Most common are breast tenderness and enlargement because of herbs that act like estrogen. 2% to 4% of patients also run the risk of blood clots, a potentially fatal problem, the studies found.
Because of this risk, doctors say the therapy should generally be used only on patients who have not been helped by hormone therapy--even though the herbal supplement appears to reduce tumor growth in men with any stage or type of prostate cancer.

In his study of 69 men, published this month in the Journal of Urology, 88% of patients taking the product experienced a significant drop in a protein called prostate specific antigen, or PSA, which is a marker for tumor growth.
The supplement is sold in bottles of 60 capsules at $108. A typical regimen consists of six to nine capsules a day.

Michael Cook, 49, was diagnosed at the age of 45 with prostate cancer that had already spread to his ribs and pelvis.
Cook, a former magazine publisher who lives in Brea, was told that his only option was treatment with hormones, which he decided to forgo because studies have shown that hormones may work for only a limited time. After trying numerous other alternative remedies, his prostate specific antigen had skyrocketed and his bone pain had moved to his back.
"Then I heard about PC SPES," Cook said. After a month on the herbs, his antigen levels dropped from 80 to 0.2, he said.
"My doctor was stupefied by it," he said. "I've been on PC SPES for three years now, and I seem to be in complete remission."

The blend of herbs was brought to this country by Allan X. Wang, a Chinese herbal doctor who learned the formula from a long line of healers in his family, including a great-grandfather who ministered to the last Chinese emperor.

In 1987, Wang enlisted the talents of a Western-trained herbal specialist to tweak the mixture into its current formula.
PC SPES is now manufactured exclusively by privately held BotanicLab, which is based in Brea. Although under the law, supplement manufacturers can't claim to treat disease, BotanicLab acknowledges that "PC" stands for prostate cancer. "Spes" is Latin for hope.