Robert Naviaux, at researcher at University of California, San Diego, published a landmark paper yesterday on the metabolites of patients with ME/CFS. It made news around the world. Below, an in-depth analysis of the paper’s findings and its implications. Note: some of the information below is speculative, linking Naviaux’s findings to other research. Findings not
By Mary Dimmock and Jennie Spotila This is a cross-post originally published in Jennie Spotila’s blog, Occupy ME. In response to requests by U.S. patient organizations and advocates, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has issued an Addendum to its 2014 ME/CFS evidence review. This Addendum downgrades the conclusions on the effectiveness
Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) have issued a statement in response to Tuesday’s tribunal ruling that they must release anonymised PACE trial data to a patient who requested it under the Freedom of Information Act. The data would allow the calculation of main outcome and recovery figures using analyses that were specified in PACE’s
A tribunal panel has ordered Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) to release anonymised data from the PACE trial to Mr. Alem Matthees, a patient who requested it. The ruling has important implications for CFS patients both in the UK and worldwide. The David-vs-Goliath outcome represents the first successful attempt to begin to counter the
This is the third article in our series on the #MEAction RFI polling data. Click here for Part I and here for Part II. Clinical and Research Testing Perhaps unsurprisingly given Davis’s recent progress, metabolomics were what patients believed ME research needs to progress swiftly; two-day exercise testing was rated as less important, perhaps due
This is the second part of the RFI Poll Report. To see the Part 1, click here. The Need for an Inclusive Model of Research Severe patients The inclusion of severe patients in research emerged as a theme in stakeholder comments. Severe patients will likely present with gross biological abnormalities, and therefore present a significant
On ME Awareness day this year, 12th May, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) opened the UK ME/CFS Biobank for business, with blood samples available from 300 patients now, and there will soon be samples for over 200 controls. The ready availability of samples for large numbers of well-characterised patients and controls
Science writer Julie Rehmeyer presented a critique of the PACE trial to North America’s largest gathering of statisticians in Chicago earlier this week. Her talk was titled, “Bad Statistics, Bad Reporting, Bad Impact on Patients: The Story of the PACE trial”. Rehmeyer explained to the 200-strong audience some of the problems with the trial, including
First of all, thank you so much to everyone who responded to the #MEAction survey to make our response to the NIH as comprehensive and representative as possible! On May 24th, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) released the document Request for Information: Soliciting Input for New Research Strategies for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS).
As reported earlier this week, Jen Brea, Terri Wilder, Carol Head, Jennie Spotila, and Mary Dimmock met with Dr. Karen DeSalvo, Acting Assistant Secretary for Health on August 1. The purpose of the meeting was to impress upon Dr. DeSalvo how woefully inadequate HHS’s response to this disease has been – that it is still
