Federal regulators have lifted a partial hold on a clinical trial performed by Stanislaw Burzynski, the Houston doctor whose use of an unlicensed cancer drug has made him a hero to some and a charlatan to others.

The Burzynski Research Institute Inc. recently announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision to permit the doctor to continue his research on using antineoplaston injections for some newly diagnosed brain stem cancers. The agency forbade Burzynski from enrolling new patients in the trial following the 2012 death of a participant, a 6-year-old New Jersey boy.

Burzynski, 71, still faces a complaint by the Texas Medical Board, which alleges Internet advertising of his antineoplastons violated the state's medical practice act. In its complaint, the board calls Burzynski's claims about the treatment false and misleading.

Burzynski supporters praised the FDA's action in online comments. About 50 people called the decision a "fantastic win," comparing Burzynski's on-and-off fight with federal regulators to a battle between David and Goliath.

The FDA's judgment came about a week before former patient Abra Hall, 27, of Chehalis, Wash., died following a two-year brain cancer fight. Hall's tumor kept growing, even during the three months she tried Burzynski's treatments. Hall died July 3.

Her mother, Stacey Huntington, filed a 2013 complaint with the Texas Medical Board against Burzynski, claiming the doctor was more interested in profits than helping her daughter, who routinely became ill during treatments. Huntington said her daughter repeatedly had to stop treatment and take time to recover before she could resume them. Hall never reached a maximum dose of treatment, her mother said.

"I just don't understand how he can get away with what he has done," Huntington said. "I just got duped out of $35,000. He's greedy. He takes advantage of people who are desperate."

Burzynski's attorney, Richard Jaffe, said there was no doubt the agency would lift the hold, calling it a good step forward. He said his client's treatments weren't responsible for Hall's death.

"She wasn't happy with the treatment," Jaffe said of Huntington. "She wasn't happy with (the costs) and she went away. (Hall) didn't die under the clinic's watch. There's bad blood there. There have been a couple of patients like that."

For more than 35 years, Burzynski has administered his treatment, a synthesized version of human peptides found in blood, drawing desperate patients worldwide to his west Houston clinic despite cries from conventional cancer researchers that Burzynski lacks evidence that the treatment works.

He has touted the drugs - never approved by the FDA - as an effective therapy that can cure some of the most difficult to treat cancers.

No randomized, controlled trials of antineoplastons as a cancer treatment have been conducted or published in peer-reviewed journals, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The Food and Drug Administration and Jaffe declined to release letters stating the agency lifted the hold. In a written statement, spokeswoman Stephanie Yao said Burzynski provided information her agency sought, including accurate descriptions of common and serious adverse drug reactions and accurate information about tumor shrinkage after antineoplaston treatment. She wouldn't comment on Hall's death.

"Patients who are suffering from serious, often life-threatening illnesses have an understandable interest in gaining access to investigational drugs," the statement said in part. "The agency recognizes that many patients and their families want the opportunity to decide how much risk they are willing to tolerate from an experimental therapy."

The agency and Burzynski still are discussing how to move forward with his clinical trial, Jaffe said, and resumption is not imminent.

Burzynski's feud with the government culminated in 1997, when he was acquitted of the last of 75 federal charges related to the interstate shipment of his drug. He is allowed to prescribe antineoplastons in FDA-approved clinical trials and for patients who didn't qualify for Burzynski's trial, but sought his help.

Meanwhile, Jaffe said he and the state medical board continue to discuss its complaint, which the board is amending to include allegations of failing to meet the standard of care and unprofessional conduct in the evaluation and treatment of several patients. Board officials won't identify the patients or say how many have filed complaints. Jaffe said one of them is Huntington.

Huntington said Burzynski double-billed her and her insurance company for supplies needed to administer treatments up to about 12 hours a day, which began August 2012 and concluded early in November 2012. Besides treatment setbacks related to high doses of steroids, Huntington said, an abscess developed around the port implanted in Hall's chest. Her tumor grew 80 percent. Huntington said.

"She just went through hell," said Huntington.