Patient Advocates With MS Fund Clinical Trial Of 
Promising Drug That Has Already Helped Thousands

Over the last decade, anecdotal reports suggested that a very low 
dose of an FDA-approved (in the United States) drug called naltrexone provides effective symptom relief for many patients who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis. 

Frustrated by the lack of scientific research, volunteers began 
raising money to fund a human clinical trial of Low Dose Naltrexone 
(LDN) for MS. This effort culminated in awarding a $25,000 gift to 
the University of California, San Francisco Multiple Sclerosis 
Research Center.

Naltrexone was approved by the FDA 20 years ago for treating 
addiction, but researchers at Penn State University discovered its 
ability to normalize a dysfunctional immune system when used in very 
low doses. Dr Bernard Bihari, a Harvard trained neurologist in New 
York City, observed positive results in his patients using LDN for MS 
and other immune system disorders. His observations were published at 
http://www.ldninfo.org, which is where an MS patient named SammyJo 
Wilkinson learned of it.

Wilkinson was diagnosed with MS in 1995 at age 30. For years she used 
the injectable drugs approved by the FDA for MS but to no avail; the 
disease progressed to walking with a cane, and she had to give up her 
technology career. By the end of 2003, she was falling so often that 
a motorized wheelchair was on order.

"In February of 2004 I took my first 4.5 mg capsule" recalls 
Wilkinson, "and I have recovered without setbacks ever since." In 
2005 she attended the 1st LDN Conference, and in conjunction with 
other patient advocates including the non-profit Accelerated Cure 
Project for MS, formed a committee to raise funds to stimulate 
research for LDN treatment of MS. Because naltrexone is an 
inexpensive generic drug, the concern was that there would be little 
commercial interest in research, so they felt it was up to patients 
themselves to lead the way. In addition to Wilkinson, this committee 
also consisted of Robert Lester and Art Mellor.

They set up a website, http://www.LDNers.org, and received 
enthusiastic support from other patients who had benefited from LDN. 
The culmination of the fundraising effort was a gala benefit in 
California attended by over 250. The organizer, Vicky Finlayson, had 
experienced an amazing recovery from 10 years of painful MS attacks 
after taking LDN, and felt passionately about funding the research, 
so that others with MS could gain the relief she had.

Following the benefit, $25,000 had been raised, and word arrived that 
the UCSF Multiple Sclerosis Center was interested in conducting the 
first human trial in the US, to measure the impact of LDN on MS. The 
funds were donated to UCSF, and a 3 month double-blind crossover 
trial involving 80 patients is expected to start this Spring.

About UCSF MS Center

The Multiple Sclerosis Center at the University of California serves 
the MS community of Northern California through a commitment to 
providing the highest standard of integrated patient care, innovative 
basic science and clinical research, and education. The UCSF MS 
center cares for approximately 3,500 patients who suffer from MS and 
provides consultation for many more patients who geographically are 
unable to receive continuity of care in San Francisco. The MS Center 
is committed to developing improved therapies for MS through clinical 
trials as well as basic science research oriented at understanding 
why patients develop MS and uncovering novel therapeutic strategies. 
For more information about the UCSF MS Center please visit the 
website: http://www.ucsf.edu/msc/index.html

About Accelerated Cure Project for MS

Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis, 
www.acceleratedcure.org, is a national non-profit organization 
dedicated to curing Multiple Sclerosis (MS) by determining its 
causes. Accelerated Cure Project believes this effort can be 
accelerated by organizing the research process and encouraging 
collaboration between research organizations and clinicians. A "Cure 
Map" is currently being developed by Accelerated Cure Project to 
establish what is known and what is not known about the causes of MS. 
 From the Cure Map, Accelerated Cure Project will facilitate research 
most likely to reveal the causes of MS in the shortest time through a 
large-scale, multidisciplinary, MS Repository. For more information 
about Accelerated Cure Project or to make a corporate or individual 
donation, call 781/487-0008, visit http://acceleratedcure.org, or 
send an email to info-pr@acceleratedcure.org.

About Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic demyelinating disorder of the central 
nervous system that often results in severe disability including the 
inability to walk, blindness, cognitive dysfunction, extreme fatigue 
and other serious symptoms. MS affects over 400,000 people in the US 
and 2 million individuals worldwide. The disorder occurs twice as 
often in women as in men. The cause is not known and there is no 
known cure.