But Caisse did not invent the essiac formula (the lower case "e" is intentional: Essiac® is a registered trademark owned by Dr. Pierre Gaulin (U.S.) and Terry Maloney (Canada)). The basis for the formula is rooted in native Ojibway (a tribe native to Ontario) medicine.
In any event, what followed after her death in 1978 is all too characteristic of pettiness and greed we see in the orthodox community -- bickering and in-fighting over trademarks, connection to the legend, and who does and who does not have the "real" essiac formula.
With dozens of essiac 'me-too' products now on the market -- some of them true to the original formulation, most of them not, we chose to use the same Canadian source for the essiac formula that we chose for the Hoxsey formula (see below). After a careful review of the underlying documentation, we believe it to be formulated as close to the original as one will find on the market - anywhere.
Essex Botanical is produced by a 2nd generation European Master Herbalist, who has not cut corners on ingredients or production protocol. It is a patent herbal.
Our Assessment: Among phytopharmacologists, the active components within the essiac formula are quite well known, collectively fitting a category that we call "mildly cancerolytic." To call it a "cancer cure" is a real stretch, though there can be no doubt that it is of real benefit as a 'nutraceutical cocktail' for most cancer patients. You should use this formula for the same reason that you should listen to nutritionists who advise you to take regular fresh helpings of chemopreventatives in your diet -- cruciferous vegetables, like broccoli; tomatoes, for their lycopenes; pau d' arco tea, for its hydroquinones, etc.

     Fighting cancer should be viewed as waging war. And you rarely win a war with only one weapon.

     An interesting footnote on the Essex Botanical formula is that, according to several people who had direct conversations with Rene Caisse, she indicated that the formula was only beneficial for the curing cancer, but also as a remedy for diabetes and AIDS. These seem to stand to reason, as her claim has always been that it improves and enhance's one's immune system.

Far more dramatic than even the "essiac story," is the true life of Harry Hoxsey. (There is an excellent movie available by Kenny Ausubel, Hoxsey: How Healing Becomes a Crime, which you can purchase elsewhere on the web, along with the book -- same title.) Few stories in this business elicit such deep pathos, and few figures in the last century are as polarizing between the forces of orthodoxy and those of the alternative community as that of Hoxsey.
If Caisse was subdued and less given to self-promotion (perhaps reflective of the Canadian character) than Hoxsey was her anti-thesis. His "damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" approach provided him with a cavalcade of court actions by medical authorities and their counterparts at the U.S. FDA. In 1956 Harry Hoxsey published his signature work, You Don't Have To Die -- the title itself a mere prelude to a work that is largely invective of the cancer establishment. No doubt, Hoxsey's personal style lent itself to those who would simply dismiss him as a quack. But the many hundreds of cured cancer patients who managed to show up at Hoxsey's trials to testify -- hundreds out of thousands of documented cases, served only to delay the inevitable: the closing of Hoxsey's 17 successful cancer clinics and the exodus of his legacy to Tijuana, Mexico, which would be run by his protege, Mildred Nelson (yes, another nurse -- and though she has passed on, the "Hoxsey Clinic" still operates today.)

The answer is not a simple one. As to skin cancers, we have no doubt that Hoxsey's topical formula was a success. Unlike Rene Caisse, Hoxsey didn't hide his formulas. The ingredients in his topical can be found on page 47 of his book. Hoxsey's topical formula is in the escharotic category of herbal remedies which has its own long history of effective use.  (In fact, medical authorities were forced to admit in one of Hoxsey's court proceedings that his topical formulas work successfully -- details which Hoxsey proudly related in Chapter 15 of his book.)
Internal cancers are another matter.
We know from the many people who have been to the Hoxsey clinic in Mexico that their internal remedies fail a large percentage of users. But, like Essiac, should the "Hoxsey formula" be used as a cancer treatment system? Or as an adjunctive product, taken for its nutraceutical benefits? We would suggest the later.

One note about this formula. Hoxsaic reflects improvements since the time of Hoxsey. On pages 45 and 45, Hoxsey lists his ingredients as potassium iodine, licorice, red clover, burdock root, stillingia root, barberis root, poke root, cascara, Aromatic USP 14, prickly ash bark, and buckthorn bark. Some immunosupportive herbal concentrates (i.e. cat's claw, bladderwrack, sheep sorrel) have been added to Hoxsiac, while the obvious omission (largely for legal reasons in Canada) is the potassium iodine; buckthorn bark, cascara sagrada, poke root, and berberis root. (Those with a mind for detail will note that the both the Hoxsey and essiac formulas contained burdock root and Queen's delight (i.e. stillingia).)

On the issue of the Hoxsey formulae origin, we also take up issue (though it may be of small importance). Harry Hoxsey attributed their origin to his great grandfather, John Hoxsey, and an incident involving a sick horse that took place in the Fall of 1840. (Details are provided in Chapter 5 of his book, but not before getting a short lesson on the Hoxsey family tree.) The "Hoxsey" discovery of 1840 may or may not have happened, but one thing is clear: the botanical ingredients used by Hoxsey were clearly in use by native American medicine men at that time. So well documented is this indigenous use that we find it doubtful that Harry Hoxsey's great grandfather would not have been exposed to a good deal of this knowledge prior to having his herbal epiphany.

Our Assessment: The internal Hoxsey formula has, in our opinion, a true value as a nutraceutical aid, just as the essiac formula does. We find no issue with the thousands of people who claim that either the essiac or Hoxsey formula provided a real cancer cure. But, please remember, you will find a number of natural botanical sources that various individuals will point to as the source of their cure. However, in our mind, to be a true "cure," a given product must prove effectiveness in a preponderance of cases. Critics have been quick to point out, post mordem, that Hoxsey himself had cancer at the end of his life -- though, as Ausubel's movie on Hoxsey notes, supporters are quick to counter that this was not his true cause of death.