Walter P. Drake, BA,MA,JD
Research Scientist
Founder, Drake Biomedical Institute
The genesis of the Drake Biomedical Institute can be found in my studies in the Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. In 1968, the Department was engaged in advancing the understanding of molecular biological interactions between the primary cell molecules: DNA, RNA, and Proteins. After 3 years at Hopkins, it appeared that the only models being studied were bacterial models, the interaction
between bacteria and their viruses, principally the T4 phage. And although the study of bacterial models had over the years produced our primary understanding of the interaction between DNA, RNA and proteins, I wanted to work with animal models. Having completed all course requirements for a PhD degree, but lacking a completed dissertation, I left Hopkins in 1971 with a Masters Degree in molecular biology and joined the research laboratory of Michael R. Mardiney Jr., MD. He was Chief of the Immunology Section of the Baltimore Cancer Research Center and was using various animal models, primarily the mouse, to study how immunotherapy could be used to control cancer.
The Baltimore Cancer Research Center (BCRC) was a joint research collaboration between the National Cancer Institute and the U.S. Public Health Service Hospital, and indeed its labs occupied the grounds of the Hospital located at Wyman Park Drive in Baltimore. The BCRC was formed in 1965 and for a little over 10 years thereafter, it conducted both clinical studies with cancer patients, and basic research with animal models.
When I started there in 1971, the Section of Immunology headed by Dr. Mardiney was experimenting with BCG, short for “Bacille Calmette Guerin”, a vaccine preparation still used internationally as a prophylactic for tuberculosis. BCG had been found by Professor 
Georges Mathé in France to boost the immune response in patients with cancer. Dr. Mathé was the Director of the Institute of Cancer and Immunotherapeutics at the Paul-Brouse Hospital in Villejuif, France. Dr. Mardiney had met Dr. Mathé and the 2 labs had a loose association, sharing data and concepts. Some of our research reports were published in Biomedicine (the European Journal of Clinical and Biological Research) edited by Dr. Mathé.
At that time, little did I know or appreciate that history would remember Dr. Mathé as one of the early pioneers in stem cell transplantation. As reported in the British Medical Journal, Volume 319, p 1308 (1999): “…the milestone contribution of Georges Mathé from Paris mark the beginning of the adventure into stem cell transplantation….[he] successfully treated patients who had received lethal doses of radiation from a nuclear accident, with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in 1958”.
Under Dr. Mardiney, and with substantial federal funding for the US “War on Cancer”, the Immunology Section and the BCRC made major contributions toward patient treatment regimens. Moreover, many physicians that trained in the Immunology Section went on to head major cancer centers around the country. With the collaboration of Dr. Mardiney, I completed many independent investigations and became lead author on 20 published biomedical reports and co-author/contributor to 9 others.
Click for Bibliography of Walter P Drake.
The earliest report, Drake WP et al “Preservation of Cellular Antigenicity in Tumor Cells By the Use of Formalin Fixation”, Cancer Research 32:1042-1044 (1972), showed that formalin treated tumor cells could elicit a strong immune response measured by the development of antibody to the cells when injected into a mouse. Over the years, this study has been cited many times by other scientists. In 2003, this report was cited as the basis to make a patient vaccine by treating a patient’s tumor cells with formalin and injecting into the patient with beneficial results. Pizza G, et al, “Allogeneic Gene-Modified Tumour Cells in Metastatic Kidney Cancer: Preliminary Report”, Folio Biological (Praha) 49: 147-159 (2003).
In 1976, the BCRC laboratories moved to the University of Maryland Medical Center. By 1978, both the name and the mission had changed, with the resulting departure of most of the staff. Meanwhile, shortly thereafter, the United States Public Health Service Hospital was transferred to a federal Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) called the Wyman Park Health Systems, and eventually acquired by Johns Hopkins which incorporated it into the US Family Health Plan at Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Having obtained a law degree (Doctor of Jurisprudence from University of Baltimore School of Law) I set off to pursue a law career, with representations including Clinica Corp., a development stage company founded to develop cancer screening tests based on some of the work with the RNAase enzyme test that was being investigated at the BCRC. I also served as attorney for Immunodiagnostics and Immunotherapeutics Inc., a company headed by my friend and colleague, Dr. Michael Mardiney, which was engaged in quantifying and packaging immunotherapeutic protocols and antigenic substances.
In 2005 while in Thailand, I came across reports of the curing of blindness in a Thai patient through the use of stem cell injections. There came further reports of Thailand establishing a “National Stem Cell Mega Project” to fund and coordinate stem cell therapies. Like those others of us that were overseas, it became clear to me that a lot of avant garde research and treatment was going on around the world that was not happening in the USA. And that there were opportunities to participate in this field with more freedom from governmental regulation. Except for the USA where restrictions many times disable clinical progress, there are valuable and beneficial stem cell therapies that can be obtained now and that are being offered internationally, particularly in China, Thailand, Singapore, Panama, Sweden, Germany, and Russia. The Drake Biomedical Institute was founded in part to match patients to available treatments and to eventually offer stem cell treatments to patients directly. Although modest in its beginning, it is hoped that the Institute will participate in this new and exciting field, and contribute to its advancement.
Epilogue
(1) Michael R. Mardiney Jr., MD went on to become a pre-eminent allergist and immunologist, treating pediatric and adult patients in the Baltimore Maryland area.
(2) Professor Georges Mathé continued to speak at international conferences concerning the role of immunotherapy in cancer treatment. In 2002, he was awarded the Grand Medal (highest national award) from the French National Academy of Medicine.
(3) The original research report concerning the formalinization of tumor cells maintaining antigenicity may have valuable applications in the stem cell sciences. See
Drake, WP “Letter to Michael R. Mardiney Jr. MD”, September 23, 2007.
