SIR ARNOLD TAKEMOTO - CANCEROPTION.COM - (CAOP)
CEO Interview - published 08/21/00

DOCUMENT # KAP626

SIR ARNOLD TAKEMOTO is President and Chief Executive Officer of CancerOption.com, Inc. He brings to CancerOption.com his unique and innovative approaches to cancer therapies and immunological support. His detailed protocols that he is currently implementing as a chemist, biochemist and nutritionist are the basis of CancerOption’s proprietary content. Sir Arnold’s personal mission statement is to provide strong clinical support for cutting-edge complementary protocols and to facilitate physicians in their implementation of cancer therapies. Sir Arnold is a chief consultant to physicians and cancer clinics worldwide. He also attends workshops at many international medical conferences as a keynote speaker or guest lecturer and coordinates clinical studies in adjunctive cancer programs and innovative approaches to heart disease. Sir Arnold received his Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry from Clarkson College of Technology in Potsdam, New York in 1966. He also compiled medical research on behalf of the University of Vermont Medical School and Medical Center and the University of Colorado Medical Center. Sir Arnold completed his studies at Denver University Graduate School under the auspice of a National Science Foundation Research Grant.

Sector: Internet Services

TWST: Could we start with a history and background on CancerOption.com?

Sir Arnold: CancerOption.com was founded in March 1998. Originally, it was created not only as an informational site for complementary approaches to the treatment of cancer — in other words, that would help traditional approaches — but a small emphasis was also placed on the physicians’ market. In February 2000, the company launched its Internet portal after one year of development, market analysis, and beta testing and placed an emphasis more on physicians and international clinics worldwide. Dr. Darryl See, the Chief Medical Officer, and myself lectured internationally in medical conferences, and we have an intensive schedule coming up in the fall. We’ve also placed an emphasis on workshops because that could not only help the public and the world, but also be a good source of revenue for CancerOption. That has already proven to be the case, as our market share is increasing steadily. We really don’t have any competitors that specialize in immune-modulating and immune-enhancing nutraceuticals to complement traditional approaches.

TWST: What is it that your Website is aiming to do?

Sir Arnold: It is to educate the public and the physicians. We also have daily news feeds on breaking news on both traditional and complementary approaches to cancer as well as a clinical trial directory. We try to provide various detoxification protocols and oral nutraceutical protocols for the public. We communicate with physicians on various IV techniques.

TWST: When you say you’re trying to educate the public and the physicians, what type of education? What is it that you can provide that they can’t get on their own?

Sir Arnold: First of all, you have to look at traditional approaches, which in essence cause a suppression of the immune system. The immune system is your first and last army of defense against immune diseases. So if you follow traditional approaches, you get suppression. And unfortunately, after the treatment, whether it’s chemo, radiation or surgery, you have to pick up the pieces with your immune system, which may have been greatly suppressed. So by using oral and/or IV techniques, which have to be done at specialized doctors’ offices and clinics, the efficacy of traditional approaches is greatly increased while maintaining a healthy, natural immune function. So if you do a combination of chemo, radiation and surgery, and you do detoxification, immune-modulation and immune-enhancing methods, then you have the best of all worlds. That is the philosophy of CancerOption.

TWST: So you’re educating both physicians and the public as to alternatives.

Sir Arnold: Yes. And according to some studies and statistics, by the year 2005, cancer will be the number one killer; heart disease will be number two, and old age will be number three. In July 1999, I lectured in Japan. I was one of the invited speakers at the Japan Cancer Control Medical conference in Chiba City. Cancer is already the number one killer in Japan, and old age is the number two. So it’s a very significant disease, and it’s important to optimize and maximize both the physician’s treatment and also support and optimize the immune system of the individual that has the cancer.

TWST: What are the alternative treatments that you’re bringing to your Website?

Sir Arnold: CancerOption has developed and specialized oral nutraceutical approaches. We’re negotiating a joint venture with a pharmaceutical firm in the development of a new intravenous technique. The use of these oral nutraceuticals has already proven itself. One is a substance called ImmuneOption Enhanced Powder. It has over 60 ingredients in it which, first of all, keep healthy cells healthier. And that’s an important step because all of us produce cancer cells daily, but our immune system keeps that in check. So certainly cancer is an immune deficiency disease. Number two, there are immune-modulating, immune-enhancing substances in ImmuneOption Enhanced Powder that help the white blood cell activity, the macrophage, phagocyte, and especially natural killer cell function. So ImmuneOption helps optimize your chances of recovery and remission.

TWST: Are these patented products?

Sir Arnold: We are in the process of obtaining patents for some of the products. But to answer your question, no they aren’t right now.

TWST: How long will it take? Have you applied for patents?

Sir Arnold: No, we haven’t. We’re writing them right now.

TWST: As we look at the site, what kind of a response are you getting?

Sir Arnold: We’re getting a good response. We have well over 20,000 registered members on our site, and it’s growing daily. We are focusing more on the physicians’ market right now in clinics worldwide. We are selling to clinics in Germany, South America, Japan, and of course, the US, Mexico and Canada. We’re extending that to other European countries right now, and we’re in the process of negotiating with pharmaceutical distributors.

TWST: Are these products ones that have to be approved by the FDA?

Sir Arnold: No, they aren’t.

TWST: Why is that?

Sir Arnold: Because they are oral, non-toxic nutraceuticals, and they fall under the safe, non-toxic category.

TWST: You’ve got the Website up. Is it all-inclusive now in terms of covering all types of cancer?

Sir Arnold: No. There are, of course, many forms of cancer, some with very minimal occurrences in the United States; for instance, lipo-sarcoma, which is a fat cell cancer. However, this is an immune-enhancing, immune-modulating program, so it’s not specific per se for a certain cancer, even though the suggested complementary program varies slightly among cancers. For instance, a more hormone-driven cancer like breast cancer or prostate cancer would have natural nutraceuticals, which have been documented in scientific journals to assist in blocking the spread of the cancer or blocking the growth of the cancer. The nutraceutical protocols are updated as new information is available from clinical studies and medical journals. So overall, it is an immune-enhancing, immune-modulating program. It’s not a specific antibody type of treatment.

TWST: So it’s got a general purpose then.

Sir Arnold: Yes.

TWST: As we look out over the next two or three years, how would you describe the strategy that you’re going to follow to get the public aware of what you’re doing and make use of your site?

Sir Arnold: One thing that we’re doing, and it’s posted on the site, is a physicians-only workshop, which we’ve restricted to a small number so it’s more intimate and clinical information can be easily shared among doctors. The workshop is scheduled for August 19 and 20. We’re full after just a very short period of time, and that shows you the level of interest because physicians generally need a minimum of three months advance warning for a medical conference. And for the summer time, especially just before school starts, they need six months or more. So we’re very pleased to have filled it rapidly. Dr. Darryl See and myself will be the principal speakers at the conference, and it will go all day Saturday and half a day Sunday. It will be done in the Phoenix area. It’s to teach physicians these advanced, complementary clinical approaches.

TWST: Are these things that they have not used before and have not been aware of?

Sir Arnold: That is correct. In addition, it will also encompass other very significant health disorders such as MS and ALS, which are very significant and resistant to traditional approaches. Dr. Darryl See is one of the world experts on ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease, which is a very progressive, potentially fatal disease. The workshop will encompass chronic fatigue syndrome, Fibromyalgia, and hepatitis C, which is one of the fastest growing diseases in the United States.

TWST: So you’ll probably address all of these.

Sir Arnold: Yes, that is correct because these are basically immune deficiency disorders. So by doing immune modulation and enhancement, we utilize these state-of-the-art advancements in new products. They’re all non-toxic. The ImmuneOption Enhanced Powder, as I mentioned before, has over 60 major ingredients. So it’s an all-in-one encompassing product that aids not only the physician, but also the physician’s patient in simplicity, compliance and optimal results.

TWST: Are you the only one doing this?

Sir Arnold: There are other companies that manufacture nutraceuticals, but as far as I know, no one has such a comprehensive nutraceutical line for the enhancement of the immune system, and I’ve been working with nutraceuticals for over 30 years.

TWST: Is that really your competitive advantage?

Sir Arnold: Yes.

TWST: How difficult would it be for somebody else to copy what you’re doing?

Sir Arnold: I’m sure someone could. Would they really want to is another question, number one. Number two, do they want to do the work? We’re willing to give the workshop at basically our cost to help educate the physicians. We have doctors from all over the country that are coming to this workshop. So as the word gets out and we host other workshops, I’m sure that this will really help business, and there is plenty of business out there. As I mentioned before, by the year 2005, cancer will be the number one killer, so I don’t think there is a shortage of opportunity out there to help people.

TWST: So you’re going to educate this large group of physicians, and then the physicians will recommend your approach to their patients.

Sir Arnold: Yes. And I hate to use the phrase “large group” because we’re starting, and we want to make an impact to help the world. Certainly cancer is a huge disease, and we’re here to help the physicians, which will help the traditional approaches that the patient goes through.

TWST: Why is your approach better than the traditional approach?

Sir Arnold: We’re not saying it’s better. We’re saying it’s complementary, so it helps. As I mentioned, many of the traditional approaches may produce immune suppression, and this helps modulate and boost the immune system, so it increases the efficacy of traditional approaches. We’re not saying this is a cure; certainly not. This is an adjunctive, complementary approach, which helps traditional medicine.

TWST: Potentially, how big is the marketplace that you’re addressing?

Sir Arnold: It is very large. If one in three people by the year 2005 will pass away from cancer, then I think it’s quite large.

TWST: Are those valid statistics?

Sir Arnold: It varies in number. The most conservative I’ve seen is one in four. So this is very significant. We’re not targeting a specific cancer like breast cancer or prostate cancer. We’re seeing overall.

TWST: What changes will have to take place at the company to allow you to take full advantage of what seems to be an enormous opportunity?

Sir Arnold: We are working with key alliances, but I can’t at this time divulge who they are. We also are working on major financing for the company so we can aggressively go after this market. We’re also expanding the consumer base. We’ve met with people who are specialists at doing this. So we are actively going after that market.

TWST: For investors, what kind of growth should they expect from the company over the next two to three years?

Sir Arnold: I think it will be dramatic. We have spent over one year in development internally with personnel, in training them with the development of the cancer portal and to initiate key alliances. So I think starting this fall, the last quarter is when we’ll start seeing significant growth in the company. It’s difficult for me to really put a number on it because this market is so huge. But I would dare say that it could be quite dramatic.

TWST: What can investors use as benchmarks or milestones to judge whether you’re hitting your targets?

Sir Arnold: I hate to give projections or speculate. I think they should keep an eye on the company. They should look at sales. They should look at key alliances. I think it will be exciting for the company, and I foresee a very exciting fourth quarter this year.

TWST: Exciting in terms of growth?

Sir Arnold: Growth, key alliances, development of state-of-the-art products. You have to look overall at whether it’s managed health care, whether it’s traditional health insurance, whether it’s medicine in general. Between the Internet and the education of the public, doctors are finding that patients come into their offices very knowledgeable about their health disorder. So if enough of these patients come into their office, pretty soon the doctor starts to say, “Well, maybe I should look at this.” And as the word gets out about CancerOption, I think it will be very exciting. That’s how Dr. Darryl See came aboard. He was searching the Internet for something to address this very significant health disorder, cancer, and came across our site, looked at the ImmuneOption Enhanced Powder and said, “My gosh, I’ve never seen anything like this that would enhance and modulate the immune system.” And his background is in nutraceuticals. Dr. See is Board Certified in internal medicine and in infectious diseases, has worked as a medical researcher for World Health Organization (WHO), and has published many significant scientific journal papers. He became very excited at the prospect of ImmuneOption Enhanced Powder. So ultimately he came aboard, and I asked him to be the Chief Medical Officer for CancerOption. So as more and more doctors come across this, I think it will be very significant to the company because they’re hungry to find immune-modulating and enhancing complementary therapies for their patients. This is what we have found. We exhibited at ASCO, the American Society of Clinical Oncologists, and oncologists from South Africa came to the booth and said, “Where have you been all my life?” And some oncologists from Germany said, “We’ve been waiting for this to help with chemotherapy and radiation therapy;” one was a dual Board Certified oncologist, both in radiation and medical oncology. So slowly, the world is changing, and I think we’ll gain a rapid increase as the word gets out.

TWST: Are acquisitions likely to play a role in what you’re doing?

Sir Arnold: We are looking at some currently.

TWST: What would you look for?

Sir Arnold: We are looking for facilities that would help enhance CancerOption; in other words, companies that have developed key products, companies that perhaps could manufacture a specific product that would be difficult to manufacture by other companies.

TWST: Do you have the management team in place at the company that you need?

Sir Arnold: We are interviewing people. We have some good prospects. I feel that as the word gets out, we will have more people coming to us. We do have some people that are quite qualified and extremely excited about working for the company, so I’m in the process of interviewing them.

TWST: What are you looking for?

Sir Arnold: I’m looking for a Chief Operational Officer to help me because my forte and love is to teach doctors. I have lectured in Japan and in Europe, particularly in Germany. I’ve been asked to go to Australia, South America, South Africa, other parts of this country, Israel, and the list goes on. So I would like to do this and have a COO run the daily business. We have a good in-house PR staff, and we are looking for additional companies and entities to help with the PR management. Also, we are looking and negotiating with major Internet entities right now.

TWST: To do what?

Sir Arnold: To function as a joint venture because the Internet is one way — and a very rapid way — of reaching many people, not only the public, but also physicians. We’ve even had Fortune 500 pharmaceutical companies approach us, and we are talking to various companies right now on a shared joint venture on different projects.

TWST: As CEO of the company, where are you focusing your attention at the moment?

Sir Arnold: More on the physician’s market because there are well over 100,000 doctors in the United States, and there are well over 10,000 complementary-oriented physicians, so I’m focusing on that market.

TWST: Focusing in terms of educating them?

Sir Arnold: Yes. When you educate them, and when they realize the potential of the products after they have used the products on a few patients, they get rather excited, to say the least. If you deal with the public, you deal one-on-one. If you deal with the doctor, the physician may have 20 or 30 patients that may need the products right away. As the referral goes out from these patients, then there may be 30 or 40 patients, and the list goes on; and that’s just one physician. So the market is quite large. Cancer is a very serious disease, and we’re here to help the doctor.

TWST: Let’s take a look at the balance sheet. What do you have in the way of cash at the moment, and what is your current burn rate?

Sir Arnold: We are negotiating financing for the company. I can’t tell you the exact numbers. We would prefer to announce them since it is a public company.

TWST: What is your cash position at the moment?

Sir Arnold: It’s adequate to meet our needs for the next three months. We are producing some sales right now, and we expect considerably more after the workshop and the medical conference season, which starts the first week of September.

TWST: So that is going to be a key issue for you, to generate some cash.

Sir Arnold: Yes, generate sales. We’re getting more and more interest in both individuals and companies financing the company. So I don’t feel that will be an issue in the near future.

TWST: How do you feel about the value the market is currently putting on your company?

Sir Arnold: People don’t know about the company, and, of course, because of new regulations, it had been de-listed to the pink sheets, which is more difficult for the public to access. I’m trying to base this company on value, which means sales, profits, growth, etc., and that is my key goal, not a promotional occurrence on the company. So the market will dictate in the future what the company is worth, and that’s what I’m striving for.

TWST: How close are you to achieving that?

Sir Arnold: Very close. We expect by the end of September to have most of the key pieces to help the company — financing, key alliances, PR entities, etc.

TWST: If you were sitting down with potential investors today, what two or three reasons would you give them to own your stock?

Sir Arnold: First of all, this is an exciting market. We are focusing on doctors, especially with immune deficient disorders, which is huge. There is now a link with immune deficiency and heart disease. The monumental study in JAMA, Journal of American Medical Association, showed that a common form of chlamydia may be a major cause in heart disease. So not only are we talking about cancer, but also heart disease, hepatitis C, or other viral-based diseases, and there are also a monumental, double back-to-back independent medical studies on multiple sclerosis showing the link to HHV-6 virus and a possible cause of the disease, a potential immune deficient disease. So we are very well positioned in a huge market. So as the world knows about it, I think CancerOption will grow very dramatically.

TWST: What’s the risk for investors at this point? What can go wrong?

Sir Arnold: It’s difficult to say. I don’t feel there is a major risk with the company because of the field that we’re in. We’re not trying to compete against traditional medicine. We’re not trying to compete against other nutraceutical companies. We have found a niche. I have been doing this for 30 years. I have been advising cancer clinics and physicians treating very serious cancers for over 12 years. So this is a very large market, and it’s something that the staff feels very good about when we hear from a doctor that says, “This patient was unresponsive to traditional approaches. We added CancerOption program and now the patient is in remission,” or, “Now they feel very good, and they don’t have any more symptoms, and their quality of life has increased dramatically.” This is very rewarding to our staff and to me. So I don’t feel that there is a major downside risk. We’re starting to accumulate very good people, not only Dr. Darryl See, but we have other key people such as Dr. Garth Nicholson, who has published over 500 major journal papers in medicine and was former Chairman of Cancer Research for the world famous M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center. So these are very significant people who are part of the CancerOption.

TWST: What’s the risk that you can’t get the funding to continue?

Sir Arnold: We have so much interest right now. I don’t feel that there is a risk. We are generating sales. We are very close to breaking even monthly, just from the sales so far. We have not done any workshops yet or any major promotions, and the medical conference lecture season starts in September.

TWST: Thank you.

SIR ARNOLD TAKEMOTO
 President & CEO
 CancerOption.com, Inc.
 8300 North Hayden Road
 Suite A203
 Scottsdale, AZ 85258
 (888) 320-6565
 (480) 991-8080
 (480) 991-5451 - FAX
 www.canceroption.com
 e-mail: investorinfo@canceroption.com

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