Journal of IiME Volume 4 Issue 1 www.investinme.org interested in high-quality proposals for research – something for which there is an abundance of potential. The only strategy which makes any sense from a scientific or moral viewpoint is to fund biomedical research into ME and treat ME in the same way as cancer, Parkinson's, MS or any other mainstream illness. Proper diagnostic criteria, the Canadian consensus criteria, needs to be adopted to differentiate idiopathic chronic fatigue, burn out, overtraining syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivities etc. from ME and find the correct treatment for each of these groups. The treatments, which do exist for some sub groups, need to be made aware of and made available. An objective scientific approach to ME and sub grouping is required to facilitate this process. We hope the conference will demonstrate this fact - again. In the UK there is now a new government, a new Chief Medical Officer pending, and a new CEO at the Medical Research Council about to be selected – a unique opportunity to displace the non-science of the last decades with a strategy based on proper science, unaffected by bogus input from those vested interests promoting a psychosocial view of ME. For researchers and medical students there can be no more rewarding area in which to specialize than myalgic encephalomyelitis. For ME patients in the UK and their families there are grounds to hope we are on the crest of change and they can perhaps begin to see the light at the end of one of the darkest and most scandalous tunnels of medical ignorance. As with Multiple Sclerosis, which was denied as a real disease before a diagnostic method was developed, ME is likewise on the brink of that same breakthrough. Once it does arrive then patients can begin to see a future of funding for biomedical research and more effective treatments. A New Era in ME/CFS Research. And those who have for a generation denied this illness with misinformation and malpractice may Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) well then be brought to account. ---------------------------------------------------Invest in ME publish the Journal of IiME for free, and as often as our funds permit. For the conference version of the Journal (provided to conference delegates and available from IiME for a small fee) we have the following. Professor Hooper describes the IiME conferences and introduces the speakers. Appropriately, for a Journal produced for a conference which carries the theme of education of healthcare professionals, this version contains an illuminating study of ME in the medical literature by Professor Leonard Jason, showing coverage of ME (CFS) was severely lacking in medical textbooks. Dr Ian Gibson is no stranger to ME and the effects on citizens. He set up an inquiry into ME in 2006 which made several recommendations (increased ring-fenced money for bio-medical research, for ME to be given due recognition, alongside heart disease and cancer, an inquiry into the vested interests of insurance companies whose advisors also act as advisors to the DWP) – none of them taken up by the government. When the UK Secretary of State for Health and the UK government’s Chief Medical officer seem to define recovery from ME as “feeling better” we have an article form an expert who has studied ME for several decades. Dr David Bell supplied a definition of recovery from ME (CFS) – something which the government officials would be well advised to read. ME needs pharmaceutical companies to take a moral position on treatment of this neurological illness and begin funding biomedical research. We therefore invited Hemispherx Biopharma Inc. a Philadelphia based company, to contribute an article on their experiences developing drug treatments for ME. HB is developing Ampligen - potential treatment of globally important viral diseases and disorders of the immune system including HPV, HIV, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Hepatitis and influenza. It can only be a matter of time before such forward-thinking companies will provide the treatments for people with ME. The European ME Alliance (EMEA), comprising Page 6/56
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