Cancer and the Search for Lost Meaning ─ The Discovery of a Revolutionary New Cancer Treatment

In this groundbreaking work, Dr. Pier Mario Biava argues that the problem with cancer is not the disease itself, but how to treat it, how to approach the affected body. Malfunctioning cells, he says, need not always be cut out or chemically destroyed: they can be reprogrammed for normal functioning. This process involves identifying the information that stem cells receive during embryonic growth in the mother’s womb and reapplying it to cancer cells in the fully developed organism. Thus cancer cells can shift from multiplying and damaging tissue to healthy growth within the organism. Dr. Biava’s dramatic story recounts not only how he came by his key insight but also how he devoted years to its testing and making it operational.

Cancer and the Search for Lost Meaning also contains fascinating conclusions about what the lessons of this work can offer in terms of how we view human life and existence. The book makes a powerful case that cancer is a by-product of the sense of loss and lack of meaning in modern society and that healing cancer involves healing that sense of meaninglessness—a process that can lead to a deeper understanding of, and connection to, life.

Pier Mario Biava received his degree in medicine from the University of Pavia in 1969. He went on to specialize in occupational medicine at the University of Padova and in hygiene at the University of Trieste. He has been studying environmental carcinogens since 1974. Dr. Biava has performed numerous epidemiological studies, particularly about the relationship between asbestos and cancer, and has been studying the relationship between stem cell differentiation and cancer since 1982. He was head of Occupational Medicine at the Hospital of Sesto S.G. (Milan), a professor at the Post-Graduate School of Occupational Medicine at the University of Trieste until 2003, and currently works at the Institute of Research and Cure of Scientific Character (IRCSC) Multimedica of Milan. Dr. Biava is the author of more than a hundred scientific publications and several books. He is vice president of the International Academy of Tumor Marker Oncology and a member of the editorial advisory boards of several scientific journals. In addition, Dr. Biava is president of the Foundation for Research into the Biological Therapies of Cancer and vice president of World Wildlife Fund Italy.