Doctor Developed Nutritional Supplements and Skin Care Products for Cancer Patients.
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Nutritional Support of Oncology Patients
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Once diagnosed with cancer, a patient generally undergoes one or more treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or a combination of these. Very often these treatments can lead to nutrient imbalances and deficiencies. These nutrient imbalances and deficiencies – in addition to having an adverse effect on the patient’s quality of life – can compromise the completion of the patient’s treatment.
Responding to these nutrient imbalances and deficiencies thus becomes a critical element in meeting a cancer patient’s needs. The nutritional support of an oncology patient is an important component for the patient’s health-care provider, the patient, and the patient’s caregivers in helping to manage all aspects of cancer treatment and supportive care.
The overall nutritional wellbeing of the patient is now an important factor in determining a patient’s overall ability to tolerate their primary cancer therapy. When a patient’s nutritional status is less than optimal it can complicate the ability to sustain the ongoing treatment of their disease.
Often, the supportive nutritional needs of a patient going through cancer treatment are thought of as a second-tier matter. Cancer supportive care includes pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplementation, education, and other means that support the individual who is undergoing primary cancer treatment.
The objective of supportive care is to ensure that a cancer patient is able to successfully complete their primary treatment plan with the best quality of life possible.
When pure, safe, evidence-based nutritional supplements are appropriately formulated they can help address specific nutritional deficiencies to support the quality of life for patients undergoing cancer treatment.
OncoQOL was conceived with this need in mind. OncoQOL is a joint business effort between two of the world’s leading health-care companies: Helsinn Healthcare SA and Thorne Research, Inc. At OncoQOL, our goal is to address the nutritional needs of cancer patients through their health-care providers and caregivers via premium quality nutritional supplements, supported by scientific data and whole-patient wellness considerations, ideally with the hope of supporting their quality of life (“QOL”).
OncoQOL’s mission is to support the quality of life of cancer patients by providing pure, safe, evidence-based nutritional supplements and personal care products together with information and education for health-care providers, patients, and caregivers. In order to support this mission, we look to the latest scientific and clinical evidence to guide the development of OncoQOL’s nutritional supplement product portfolio, ensure appropriate use, and maximize outcomes.
OncoQOL’s nutritional supplement products are exclusive, specially formulated products containing nutrients and botanicals that address nutritional needs that can arise during cancer treatment.
OncoQOL products do not treat specific tumor types nor are they adjuncts to treatment, but rather, they address nutritionally-based issues that often arise during cancer care. By supporting the patient’s nutritional intake and quality of life, OncoQOL products can assist in the primary therapy being completed as planned.
"We care that patients receive pure, hypoallergenic, highly-absorbable nutrients . . . it means results."
At OncoQOL, we know the purity of a dietary supplement product’s raw ingredients will make the difference between an effective, well-tolerated product and an inferior, poorly absorbed one that might even cause an allergic reaction. That is why our commitment to use only the purest ingredients possible – free of binders, unnecessary fillers, and flowing agents – is nothing short of obsessive.
"We demand and deliver the very highest standards."
Our parent company, Thorne Research, Inc., is also our exclusive manufacturer and consistently meets or exceeds the product quality standards for dietary supplement manufacturers set by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA), as well as international regulatory agencies. During an April 2011 inspection, the FDA found Thorne Research to be fully compliant with the FDA’s Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines. Fewer than two percent of dietary supplement companies achieve this result following an FDA inspection.
DermaQOL is the only personal care product line for the oncology patient that contains certified organic ingredients and does NOT contain xenoestrogens. Published studies show there is mounting evidence that chronic exposure to xenoestrogens can disrupt normal endocrine function. All DermaQOL products are manufactured in our certified organic facility, and all product contents and containers are free of xenoestrogens.
Since 2002 Thorne Research has also met the stringent manufacturing standards set by the Government of Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Thorne Research’s TGA certification to manufacture “medicinal products” is the same certification required for pharmaceutical manufacturers that sell their products in Australia. Thorne Research is the only U.S. dietary supplement manufacturer to hold all three levels of TGA certification.
"Ingredients you don't want."
Magnesium Stearate: Good for a speed-hungry encapsulating or tableting machine. Not necessarily good for a cancer patient. Manufacturing an encapsulated dietary supplement product is not easy. A pure powdered ingredient can be difficult to mix because it can be extremely dry, or sticky with botanical oils, or it can be prone to attracting unwanted moisture. Therefore, most manufacturers will add magnesium stearate or another manufacturing aid, such as lactose or dextrose, to make the powder flow quickly and easily through a high-volume tableting or encapsulating machine. A very real concern, however, is that these additives can compromise the bioavailability of the nutrients and even cause allergenic problems.
There are documented detrimental effects directly attributable to using long-chain fatty acids as manufacturing flowing agents. Many qualified pharmaceutical compounders recognize that fatty acids such as magnesium stearate can interfere with product dissolution and negatively influence absorption. A great many dietary supplement companies, because of the economic impact, simply ignore this reality. Thorne Research, and therefore OncoQOL, will never utilize the fatty-acid excipients magnesium stearate or stearic acid in the processes we use to manufacture our products.
As a health-care provider, caregiver, or patient, you can trust OncoQOL’s commitment to provide a premium quality, evidence-based product.