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Nature Medicine 13, 1005 (1 September 2007) | doi:10.1038/nm0907-1005

Arsenic patent keeps drug for rare cancer out of reach of many

David Cyranoski

For thousands of years, arsenic has been known to have medicinal properties. It has been used at various times to treat syphilis and sleeping sickness, or occasionally to poison unsuspecting rats and husbands.