What do we think CFS is? -Dr W Reeves

[Guest guest]

http://bit.ly/1acsjy

The Plot Thickens for HEMISPHERx Biopharma

Written by M.E.Garza

Friday, 29 May 2009 02:01AM

What do we think CFS is? "

Dr. Reeves asked a worldwide audience

watching his streaming video presentation from the

meeting for the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory

Committee (CFSAC) of the Department of Health and

Human Services in Washington, DC. on Thursday.

" It's a complex illness, with alterations in complex

homeostatic systems. It's not the result of a single

mutation or a single environmental factor. It

comes from a combination of many factors:

genetics, gender, stressors, immune stressors all

interact. "

Reeves is chief of the U.S. Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention's Chronic Viral Diseases

Branch, the man in charge of the government's top

Chronic Fatigue Research program.

A few years ago, during a press conference

which was set-up in an attempt to sway

public opinion and policy, Reeves revealed

that CDC researchers had uncovered

groundbreaking, scientific results which

established that CFS had a " biological

basis " .

It was during that day, in late April of 2006, that

major television networks and hundreds of

newspapers carried the message that many had

been waiting to hear.

In the eyes of advocates and patients, that day

was to forever change the way chronic fatigue

syndrome would be conceptualized - by scientists,

physicians, and the public. At least, that's what

was supposed to happen.

Since that time, Reeves has not minced words

about his science or position on the matter. " CFS is

quite common, " Reeves told Forbes Magazine

earlier this year. " It is a real illness. If you have

the symptoms of CFS, see a provider. It's not all in

your head -- it's not a crock. "

Yesterday, Reeves was the ring master of what

turned out to be an Ampligen love-in " at the Health

and Human Services event. Not an insignificant fact

when you consider that this was the CFSAC's first

meeting under the Obama Administration's and that

the HHS is at the top of the food chain and rules the

FDA, the CDC, The Social Security Administration,

National Institute of Health, HRSA, Etc.

As some of you may already know, Ampligen, is an

experimental immunomodulatory double stranded

RNA drug developed by HEMISPHERx Biopharma

(Amex: HEB). In addition, it is the only drug in any

pipeline of any pharmaceutical company in the world

which aims to become the standard treatment for

CFS.

Reeves showed slide after slide with a diagrams and

lists. Almost always near the top of those slides

were references to HEB and Ampligen.

" This is our current model. You see the brain in

the middle. Around the brain, stress is involved,

traumatic childhood stressors, allostatic load

maladaptation to stressors, genes interact with

one's reaction to stress... "

Just then as countless CFS patients and

HEMISPHERx Biopharma investors were

watching, something went " Boom! "

It was yet another grenade lobbed at the publicly

traded company whose stock price had continued

inching upwards for yet another day in anticipation of

the Food and Drug Administration's pending decision

to approve the drug for widespread use in America.

This time, the pin was pulled by Adam Feuerstein, a

graduate from Emory University with a bachelor's

degree in political science who serves as the

Portfolio Manager, Biotech Select for TheStreet.com.

Adam asserted his own opinion- which apparently

many mistook for scientific fact. " Ampligen will not

be approved. "

KABOOM! The moment TheStreet.com's Hemispherx's

CFS Drug Is a Long Shot article hit the wires, the

stock's share price started to take a nose dive.

The thinly disguised opinion piece from a writer

without a science or medical degree hit it's mark with

thousands of high-strung investors who began to

dump shares en-masse.

Many thought Feuerstein might just be right, so they

began to sell as quickly as possible. Others thought

the FDA had actually rendered a negative ruling

against the company because the stock was

suddenly dropping in value without any other

apparent explanation. Panic had hit the world of

Hemispherx share holders once again.

Did Feuerstein blister the company on purpose? Was

it all part of a sinister plan orchestrated to sink

prices lower so someone could swoop in and salvage

their piece for a lower price? Whether it was planned

that way or not, at least one big investor did just

that to the tune of over 230,000 shares not long

after HEB parcels had bottomed at $1.51- down from

a day high of $1.76.

Still, it would be expensive, time consuming and

difficult to prove a conspiracy like that beyond

reasonable doubt and we are not here to crucify Mr.

Feuerstein for exercising his constitutionally

protected rights.

Certainly, he's a bright man who is entitled to his

own opinion-- even his conclusions didn't come

wrapped up as nicely as they could have to some

investors who have since taken to slamming him

repeatedly on social media sites and forums across

the web.

Like it or not, this subject has become the talk of

the biomedical financial sector as many feel his

article was not substantiated by enough positive

knowledge or proof. Others argue that his research

was actually filled with misconceptions, and

misplaced scientific information. They're not alone.

Adam Feuerstein wouldn't know good science if it

bit him in the ass! "

In a world where CEOs of publicly traded companies

make it a point not to get into shouting matches

with misled members of the media, I was actually

given explicit permission, told I could " record and

report everything I'm going to say. "

" I'm not going to say too much in direct response,

actually. The record can be set straight on this

matter by the government themselves. The same

people who have already told us this is a serious

gene malfunction that costs us north of $90 billion

a year in lost wages and productivity not to

mention social security benefits. "

Yes, Dr. A. , CEO and Chairman of the

Board of HEMISPHERx Biopharma was making it

abundantly clear to me that an exposed nerve had

just been pricked – again. This is the same man who

has been accused of everything from not caring

about his own company's investors to selling snake

oil. He's also the brilliant mind who has never given

up on Ampligen and who genuinely seems driven to

help those who have to live with CFS and the

stigmas associated with it.

It sounds like those guys are living twenty years

behind in time, " continued Dr. , as he referred

to Feuerstein's assertion that CFS, a poorly

understood disease with no known cause... "

Had Feuerstein really not gotten the memo about the

scientific community's findings in 2006 or did he

simply choose to ignore them?

This is a disease that destroys lives, " said

an impassioned Dr. . " It costs people

their jobs, their marriages- as their

frustrated spouses walk out on them. In

some cases it even costs them their very

lives due to suicide and catastrophic heart

failure. Our drug helps so many of these

very sick, suffering people. There is ample

peer reviewed data and proof of that, yet

they choose to ignore it.

Perhaps the writers at TheStreet.com are unaware

that for several years now, the FDA has given people

suffering with CFS the right to use Ampligen for

emergency (compassionate) use.

Indeed, the company is authorized by the FDA and

has a " promising'' designation by the Agency on

Health Research Quality (AHRQ) emergency

treatment, which means HEMISPHERx can charge

patients up to $20K a year for treatments.

" That's a price most health insurance companies

actually prefer to pay when compared to the high

costs of misdiagnosis, MRIs, CAT scans and even

surgeries that occur from time to time when patients

suffering from the illness show up at hospital

emergency rooms seeking help, " explained Dr.

.

" In order for us to get that designation, the

government had to establish that CFS was,

indeed, a very serious disease. Second, the FDA

had to be shown that there was not any other

adequate treatment and perhaps most

importantly, Ampligen had to be safe to

administer. That is one thing that has never been

withdrawn or questioned by them.

In fact, one insider tells us that in the early days of

it's use under the program, the FDA required the

company to submit safety reports every month. They

did so every month for 150 months. In fact, the

reports were delivered with such positive data and

accuracy that eventually a top administrator at

federal agency grew tired of reading them. He told

them to stop.

The CDC, as represented during Thursday's

presentation, has made important commitments to

HEMISPHERx when I comes to CFS.

" We're talking to them two to three times a week

as we compare protocols and treatments, "

explains Dr. . " Because they have vast

resources, they have been prolific in the

publication of research about the disease. They've

published about the severity of the gene

malfunction. This is a major medical research

organization in the world and they recognize that

we are leaders in the field of CFS.

You can't tell me they're not aware of that... I don't

know what the agenda is at TheStreet.Com, but

those guys may as well start selling off their 401K's

because they apparently know very little about

investing. Not only do they manipulate the facts-

they conspicuously don't talk about our

collaborations and data.

The same drug used for CFS has now taken center

stage in the fight against so called swine flu (H1N1).

The company has made headlines in recent days as

it has moved full force into collaboration with health

ministries and scientists in Japan. In fact,

BiomedReports has learned that the company is

officially on the fast ...