Press report

20 years' Mistletoe Symposium

Report on the 6th Mistletoe Symposium
"Mistletoe in Tumour Therapy - Basic Research and Clinical Practice"

From 12th to 14th November 2015, over a hundred scientists and doctors from a variety of scientific disciplines and therapeutic approaches met at the European Academy in Otzenhausen (in Nonnweiler, Saarland) for the 6th International, Interdisciplinary Mistletoe Symposium, coordinated by Dr. Rainer Scheer. The symposium was organised by numerous medical and pharmaceutical professional associations together with the Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation (see lists below).

At the symposium, the latest results from research and clinical medicine were presented, discussed and compared in 46 lectures, producing a multidimensional and comprehensive picture of the current state of scientific knowledge on mistletoe extracts. The specific areas dealt with included manufacture and testing as well as regulatory assessment of mistletoe preparations, the effects of various ingredients, in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies, studies on immunology and cytotoxicity, clinical results obtained in various applications and tumour entities in both human and veterinary medicine, reports from medical practice and clinical studies designed to demonstrate specific effects, the efficacy, the safety and tolerability of mistletoe preparations. Oncological guidelines and the treatment of pancreatic and gastro-intestinal tumours were chosen as a topic for special attention and also dealt with in depth in a podium discussion. A particular focus was placed on the results of the pioneering Phase III study conducted by Galun and Tröger, as well as the controversial debate this has kindled in the literature.

The organisers hope that in future the Mistletoe Symposia will prove to be a forum for scientific exchange and discussion of questions relating to safe and reliable use of mistletoe in tumour therapy between professional associations and representatives not only of complementary, but also of conventional oncology.

All the abstracts from the symposium are published in English in Phytomedicine 22 (2015) Supplement 1 and are available on the Internet at www.ScienceDirect.com. The summary papers that are still in stock are available on request from the author of this article. It is again planned to make the full texts of all contributions to the symposium available in a book published by KVC-Verlag, Essen. The print and online version will probably be available by the end of 2016.

The Mistletoe Symposia have been held every 4 years since 1995. This year's participants again rated the congress as important and stimulating in terms of the results presented, the quality of the lectures, the discussions, the opportunity for individual conversations as well as the possibility to establish contacts. This was further underscored by the harmonious atmosphere as well as the excellent culinary, spatial and technical setting of the venue throughout the symposium.

It is planned to continue this fruitful exchange at the 7th Mistletoe Symposium in 2019, again at the European Academy in Otzenhausen and again with simultaneous interpretation into English. For more information about this and previous Mistletoe Symposia visit www.mistelsymposium.de.

Dr. Rainer Scheer, Carl Gustav Carus-Institut, Am Eichhof 30, 75223 Niefern-Öschelbronn; Tel. +49 (0)7233 68418; email: rainer.scheer@carus-institut.de

 

Organisers:

Deutsche Pharmazeutische Gesellschaft (German Pharmaceutical Society )

Gesellschaft für Arzneipflanzen- und Naturstoff-Forschung  (Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research

Gesellschaft für Phytotherapie (Society for Phytotherapy)
Karl und Veronica Carstens-Stiftung (Karl and Veronica Carstens Foundation)

Gesellschaft anthroposophischer Ärzte in Deutschland (Society of Anthroposophical Doctors in Germany)

Zentralverband der Ärzte für Naturheilverfahren u. Regulationsmedizin (ZAEN) (Central Association of Doctors in Naturopathic and Regulation Medicine)

Cooperation partners:

Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Pharmazeutische Verfahrenstechnik e.V., Mainz (International Association for Pharmaceutical Technology)

European Society of Integrative Oncology e.V., St. Märgen

Director:

Dr. Rainer Scheer, Carl Gustav Carus-Institut, Niefern-Öschelbronn
PD Dr. Harald Matthes, Gemeinschaftskrankenhaus Havelhöhe, Berlin

Scientific Organisation:

Prof. Dr. Susanne Alban, Kiel

Prof. Dr. Hans Becker, St. Ingbert

Prof. Dr. André-Michael Beer, Hattingen

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Blaschek, Kiel

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kreis, Erlangen

PD Dr. Harald Matthes, Berlin

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Heinz Schilcher, Zaumberg†

Dr. Günther Spahn, Mainz

Dr. Rainer Stange, Berlin

†Heinz Schilcher passed away on 17th June 2015. The co-organisers of the symposium acknowledge his reliable long-time support and the indispensable contributions he made to the Mistletoe Symposia.

 

For the scientific societies and the organizers of the 6th mistletoe symposium (from left): Prof. Dr. Hans Becker (St. Ingbert), Dr. Günther Spahn (Mainz), PD Dr. Harald Matthes (Berlin), Dr. Rainer Scheer (Niefern-Öschelbronn), Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kreis (Erlangen), Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Blaschek (Kiel)

 

 

 

Photos: G. Schorer

Further press reports

GA News 2015 Nr. 2, p 15