- A member in my family has MS (Multiple Sclerosis.) Few
people who don't have a family member with the disease can actually understand
it. Contrary to common belief, people DO have PAIN with the disease. There
are two common treatments, for this disease which has its roots in biowarfare
research. Don Scott, a microbiology professor (ret.) in Canada has researched
this for years, and traced it to the US Army at Ft. Dietrich, MD. The disease
is worthless on the battlefield.
-
- It was really designed for population control. Don Scott
found that all those researchers involved in developing the disease died
of micoplasma infections. By their own hand, since this it was the very
pathogen they were developing that took their own lives. Using glove boxes
while wearing environmental suits did not stop it- it's that virulent.
In less concentrated form, one develops fibromyalgia, MS and other neuro-immune
diseases. In a more concentrated form, one develops AIDS. Don Scott found
conclusively that HIV is an opportunistic infection, and is NOT the cause
of AIDS.
-
- Some estimates put the number of people with MS at upwards
of 10 MILLION. It is an incurable affliction, but considered 'manageable'
using injectable drugs. The drug is shipped via FedEx overnight in an insulated
container. It contains 30 preloaded syringes surrounded by several frozen
gel packs. The packs keep the temperature of the medicine just above freezing.
-
- One of the common injectable drugs for treating MS is
Copaxone (calcium glatimer acetate.) Once a prescription is written by
a neurologist after pronouncing an MS diagnosis, a patient can purchase
it on-line from suppliers such as Chronimed or locally from a drugstore.
We learned that most drugstores don't even stock it. Some drugstores have
said that too few patients buy it, and it has a short shelf life measured
in weeks.
-
- Those individuals with MS on social services such as
Medicaid, often cannot get this drug because of the high cost of treatment
at $1030/month or more. We learned it is denied to patients in the UK (by
socialized medicine doctors) because of cost. In fact, a patient can easily
pay $1200/month through some drugstores. This monthly total cost doesn't
include other medications that co-treat MS, and deal with some side effects
of Copaxone. This can easily bring the total to more than $2000 a month,
an expense which goes on FOREVER until the end comes.
-
- Let's also focus on just Copaxone sales, a real gold
mine. Out of curiosity, I looked at one account statement. One month's
sequential number is subtracted from a previous month's shipment serial
number to obtain the number of shipments.
-
- Some of the resulting Chronimed totals of monthly Copaxone
shipments are as follows. (Remember that the figures below do not include
numerous other Copaxone sales outlets, such as from drugstores.)
-
- January 2005 to February 2005: 18,146 shipments
- December 2004 to January 2005: 30,063 shipments
- November to December 2004: 22,023 shipments
-
- We can average these to obtain a 3 month average of 23,411
shipments per month. We then multiply that figure by $1030.00 for a current
patient's cost.
-
- This result is a staggering monthly sales figure for
Copaxone through Chronimed: $24,113,330.00.
-
- Yes, you read that correctly.
- $24 MILLION /MONTH for Chronimed's Copaxone sales.
-
- This is a total of $289,359,960 in sales PER YEAR.
-
- How many businesses you can think of that have sales
figures like this? And just from selling a product that might cost Teva
Pharmaceutical about $30 (or less) to manufacture, then selling it for
more than $1,000?
-
- Add all this expense burden onto an already ill MS patient,
for a drug that IS NOT VERY EFFECTIVE. The proverbial rubbing salt in the
wound, new millenium style.
-
- According to the drug's efficacy fact sheet chart packed
with the injections, Copaxone only slows MS progression (brain and/or spinal
column lesion growth) by an average of JUST SEVEN PERCENT.
- And it has side effects for a patient to deal with.
-
- A physician once said that "A patient cured is a
customer lost."
-
- It must also be the credo of the pharmaceutical industry.
-
-
- Comment
- Jim Mortellaro
- 2-17-5
-
- Some of this may be the result of a misunderstanding
of Mr. Twietmeyer's article regarding MS. So if I am misinterpreting, please
clarify.
-
- First, my understanding of this essay is that the disease
(or the treatment, this is not at all clear to me) has it's roots in biowarfare
researched at Fort Dietrich, MD. Can't be. MS has been known for more than
a century. It was Dr. Jean Martin Charcot who first scientifically described,
documented and names the disease process we still call Multiple Sclerosis.
This was in about 1843. Fort Dietrich was not engaged in such activity
then. In fact, the land on which Fort Dietrich is located was nothing more
than pooping grounds for critters. Do I have this wrong?
-
- The disease was so named because of the many scars found
widely dispersed throughout the nervous system, but are usually found to
be widely arrayed in the cerebrum's lateral ventricles. In fact, it was
originally called the "Creeping Paralysis" by Freud and referred
to as a nervous disorder called "Female Hysteria." It was thought
to be that MS was a man's disease because of the misdiagnosis used on women
who exhibited the illness.
-
- The myelin sheath which surrounds the nerve fibers in
the body is eaten away, attacked by white blood cells which think the myelin
is the enemy. It was in 1868 that Dr. Charcot gave a decent analysis of
exactly what was happening.
-
- Another mistake in this piece is that Copaxone has a
short shelf life measured in weeks. Not so. Copaxone will keep in the fridge
for about a year. And it will keep outside the fridge for up to a month
for those who travel and must take the medication. It is not stocked because
it's too damned expensive, not because of poor shelf life.
-
- Comment is also made in this essay about the 'side effects'
of Copaxone. But there are NO side effects except one. And that side effect
does not affect most people. In addition, that side effect is ONLY after
the first shot. It is called, Anaphylactic Shock and will exhibit only
on first application. A treatment with an EpiPen will take care of that,
as subsequent shots will NOT exhibit shock. The number of patients who
suffer AS are very few.
-
- Twietmeyer writes that the treatment with Copaxone is
not effective. Wrong. Whilst the stats say 7%, this medication is NOT meant
for all. Only for those with relapsing remitting MS. Not Chronic Relapsing
MS. As a result of the definition and real life effects of remitting relapsing
MS, one can NEVER know how many of the people who have had exacerbations
will actually have MORE exacerbation's. So the 7% is a very conservative
number.
-
- The reason I know these things is that my own wife has
MS. She was diagnoses in 1993 after suffering ten or more years of strange,
undiagnosable symptoms which were NOT necessarily neurologic and not at
all related (one would assume) to MS. But now that there is a diagnosis,
it is only obvious that all those symptoms were actually signs of the disease.
After the fact.
-
- MS is a very difficult disease to diagnose in it's early
stages. Most doctors won't send you to a neurologist for say, Rosacia.
But it is an immune disorder and is sometimes related to MS. So people
go long periods of time without a diagnosis. No one's fault actually.
-
- I therefore take exception to what I know to be inaccurate
information in this essay. At the very least, one with a relation who has
MS should be a lot more accurate in defining it for those who are worried
about it or about choosing a medication. It is bad enough that this miserable
illness is difficult to diagnose and live with, but to give inaccurate
information is really the pits.
-
- Jim Mortellaro
-
-
Rebuttal to Mortellaro's remarks
on http://www.rense.com/general63/ms.htm
-
- From Ted Twietmeyer
2-17-5
-
- Jim -
-
- I do not have the facts wrong. Check out the work of
Don Scott, who spent some 10 years investigating the disease. The US army
created mycoplasmas by encasing a bacterium with a protein coat, making
it invisible to the body. When this infects the body, the toxins from the
bacteria do the damage. Scott has the NIH documents and will send them
to anyone for a modest copying charge. I have spoken to Don Scott on the
phone in an hour long phone call which he was kind enough to do at his
expense, and know the story well. He only bases his statements in facts.
-
- Copaxone DOES have numerous side effects, including swelling
at the injection site, temporary elevated pulse rate, pain and others.
Some people can't tolerate it, others can. I've watched the Copaxone treatment
FIRST HAND for my wife too, every DAY for 3 years Jim. I know what I'm
talking about. If your wife is on it, then read the data sheet for the
side effects.
-
- The neurologist for my wife does admit the observed efficacy
is approximately the same as what the data sheet for the disease states
it is. Everyone we know on it doesn't get all that better from it.
-
- And even though it may have existed "in the wild"
before the Army's work, it is unsound and scientifically inaccurate to
state they also didn't create their own strain of it, which they did. Check
out NIH Report # 9. Don Scott saved that one and another from the shredder,
and will send you a copy as stated above. Pensicola Florida was the testing
city, according to the documents he obtained. 2 million sterile mosquitos
were bred at the university of Ottawa, Canada and infected at Ft. Deitrich.
They loaded into a special van with remote controlled vents, and the truck
was driven down main street in Pensicola in the middle of the night. Then
the population was tracked for disease progression. It probably still is
today.
-
- As for shelf life outside refrigeration, it is not that
long. In fact, one number we were told was about 48 hours at room temp.
If it was as long as you state, why would they bother to pack in icepacks
? Another inaccurate statement on your part. It is true that the expiration
date is 12 months.
-
- I'll also correct my own spelling error that you missed.
It is "glatiramer," not "glatimir."
-
- Before you publicly assault me next time, get all your
facts straight before you label my writings "innacurate."
-
- Ted
-
-
-
- Comment
- Jim Mortellaro
- 2-18-5
-
- Rebuttal Startling Facts About MS
-
- With Mr. Rense' permission, allow me to correct much
of the rebuttal.
-
- MS has been diagnosed since the mid 1800's. No matter
how much dickering around may have occurred at Fort Dietrich. The essay
conveyed the impression that his disease was recently hatched by the government.
Now that is the only area where I believe I may have misconstrued your
meaning. But your words are certainly not clear in their content.
-
- However ... Beta Interferon and ALL it's iterations,
meaning every single medication, EVERY ONE, prescribed for MS has side
effects and these are far worse than injection site reactions which occur
in nearly all injections, not merely preparations for MS.
-
- God man, Copaxone has the LEAST side effects of ALL the
MS preparations put together. Simple fact.
-
- As for it's efficacy, let's analyze that. Say the relapsing
remitting MS patient has one or two exacerbation's per year. Just for purposes
of this discussion. Let's all agree that the same patient may NEVER have
another exacerbation again, or that the exacerbation's may increase (which
is more likely) or remain the same.
-
- Point is, no one knows what the relapsing remitting patient
will experience. Therefore, one cannot possibly analyze the efficacy in
real numbers and percentages of Copaxone. Suffice to say however, that
Copaxone does work and has the least side effects. In my own wife's case,
not one exacerbation in about 7 years.
-
- An example, Beta Interferon One B was given once every
two days and now replaced with another med (which name escapes) given once
per week. The day after the shot is given, nearly every patient will become
ill with flu like symptoms. People usually schedule the shot the day before
their day off from work. With Copaxone, this is unnecessary. You don't
become ill with the drug.
-
- Heart rate, temporary elevated pulse (same thing) is
nothing when compared to the other meds which are injectible. Dammit, it
is crucial that the information conveyed is accurate to this degree. Someone
may be interested in Copaxone, someone who may be helped by it. But reading
this essay may very well be chased away from taking it. The best advice
is none at all. This should be given in all cases by a qualified neurologist.
Not me. Not you. I merely correct the inadequacies in the piece. This is
NOT a public crucifixion. It is at worst, a clarification of facts which
are either inaccurate, wrong or convey the wrong impression.
-
- Jim Mortellaro
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