POTOMAC, Md., March 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The following was issued today by
RESCIND, Inc.:  

Recent findings reported in the January 15, 1997, issue of the Journal of the
American Medical Association (JAMA) point to evidence that "up to 80,000 of
the approximately 700,000 Gulf War veterans remain ill with vague symptoms
that resemble Chronic Fatigue Syndrome."  This brings the total estimated
number of patients suffering from such debilitating diseases in the United
States to over 600,000, including civilians and military patients. 

"This new information validates what many of us have suspected -- that
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a poorly understood disease that severely
disables large numbers of people from all walks of life," said Tom Hennessy,
Jr., President of RESCIND, Inc., a patient advocacy group that first linked
the two diseases on CNN's "Larry King Live" on May 4, 1991.  "It makes it
even more critical to see more research -- more clinical trials and wider
access to investigative drugs.  We want to see both military and civilian
patients have accelerated access to Ampligen, the best studied treatment to
date, which holds considerable promise." 

Treatment For Patients Outside the United States   

The only therapy for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome with confirmatory placebo-
controlled and open-labeled trials is Ampligen, a nucleic acid drug developed
by the emerging biotech company Hemispherx BioPharma in Philadelphia.  The
drug is not approved in the United States, so most doctors must treat
American patients symptomatically.  Patients with CFS suffer from many
symptoms, including fever, sore throat, painful lymph nodes, muscle weakness,
headaches, joint pains, sleep disturbances and cognitive impairment.  This
chronic illness can continue for years, even decades, and patients often
become bedridden, suffering from pain similar to the pain of cancer and AIDS
patients in the last two months of life. 

In Canada, Ampligen is approved under the Emergency Drug Release Program, and
in Belgium it is available to patients with cost recovery.  In Belgium, a
clinical study recently reported at the annual scientific meeting of the
American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (AACFS) in San Francisco,
Calif., showed that approximately 80% of the patients treated with the
investigational drug Ampligen went back to work or to school six months after
the beginning of the treatment.  These patients had been bedridden because of
CFS for between three and seven years prior to the beginning of the
treatment. 

Only One CFS Patient Treated in the United States   

In the United States, various clinical trial applications are pending before
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and physicians are filing for
individual approval for patients who do not qualify for formal trials.  The
process is lengthy, and daunting for many physicians who are not equipped to
handle the necessary paperwork and numerous bureaucratic hurdles. 

"The FDA still treats CFS patients as second-class citizens," said Sara
Oliver Millener, CFIDS Network, Greenville, S.C.  "We do not receive the same
consideration as cancer patients, or patients suffering from HIV/AIDS or
Alzheimer's disease.  They clearly do not understand the severe medical and
economic consequence of this disorder on an ever-increasing number of
Americans." 

Millener, a CFS patient herself, recently facilitated the approval of the
first "Single Patient Treatment IND" for her friend Dr. Jonna Lannert of
Culver City, Calif., mobilizing elected officials, patient advocacy groups,
and health care providers. 

"It took almost five hundred hours of telephone calls before the FDA even
reviewed the application for access to the investigational drug Ampligen,"
added Millener.  "Dr. Lannert's case was desperate, so there was no choice
but to keep on trying, as her life was in the balance." 

Dr. Lannert began treatment with Ampligen under the new protocol on March 6,
1997.  Hemispherx, and Olsten Kimberly QualityCare, a major home- infusion
therapy company, made the drug, and at-home infusion, available at no cost. 

"Now, at long last, there is 'a light at the end of the tunnel' for civilians
and disabled veterans united by a common goal," said Hennessy. 

RESCIND, Inc. is a non-profit organization dedicated to repealing existing
stereotypes about Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases. 

SOURCE  RESCIND, Inc. 

CO:  RESCIND, Inc. 

ST:  Maryland 

IN:  MTC 

SU: 

03/17/97 12:23 EST http://www.prnewswire.com