I have not heard anything about RPI-78M in a long while. I had thought something was supposed to be released at the end of January. Does anybody have any information or insight?

I first read about RPI-78M on www.amnhelp.com early last year and decided to mention it to the specialist I am under here in England. I was told the only clinical trials that have been conducted were at the UCL Hospital (London) under a Dr Lachmann, with whom I discussed this potential treatment in August last year (’09). Sadly he was of the opinion that there is no evidence to support the effectiveness of this drug so hence we both agreed that it was not a viable option at this time. As I understand it RPI-78M is an orally administered drug (consisting of cobra venom!), the primary function of which is to repair/replenish the myelin sheath around affected nerves. Although the results for this drug have so far been disappointing I understand that there are many pharmaceutical companies out there researching treatments to combat the dymyelinating affects of MS which could lead to a breakthrough for AMN patients. The science and health sections on the BBC News website regularly feature related research - this might be a good website to look at from time to time. Cheers, Matt.

Hi Matt, Did you talk to Dr Lachmann about the oral form of the drug or the injection form of this drug. As the oral form may degraded too fast to reach the nerve system. So it may not as effective as the injection form.

Matt, thanks for the update. I had been wondering myself.

You can find updates on the medicine on ReceptoPharm web site: http://bit.ly/mrxu7M

Hi there, Sorry I didn't get back to you all sooner, i'm in the process of setting up myself as a freelance graphic designer and the days seem to have all merged into one!! When I saw Dr Lachmann down in London in '09 the type of drug discussed was oral and the type of testing that had been conducted was double-blind placebo. As daft as this may sound I recently read Keith Richard's autobiography and was rather bemused to discover that Cobra Venom has been touted as a possible cure for several diseases since sometime in the 1970s. The reason I now know this is that it was one of the Rolling Stones' entourage that claimed to have discovered it!! Seriously though the reason that I raise this point is that, of course, I hope there will be something out there one day for all of us... Until that time i'll take hope from evidence. There is an excellent book available over here in England called "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre (no, i'm not on commission - I had to pay for my copy!!). I really can't recommend it enough, for all of us with AMN it is an invaluable guide as to how the pharmaceutical industry operates. It also pulls apart so-called "alternative" therapies - it's origins, it's claims and thus it's ineffectiveness. I'm due to see Dr Lachmann sometime around Aug/Sept so i'll gladly ask him any further questions if anyone has any. We're all in it together... Matt

We are indeed, Matt. That's why I like rareshare, so we can get news, good or bad, about this puzzling condition.

Hi Matt, I have been trying the drug for a week now and do feel some positive effect. But I was told it takes about two weeks (average) to get some consistent result. I am using the injection form of the drug. I have been doing medical research in US for almost two decades, and "I am not on commission" for promoting this medicine. You can try it for yourself and tell us what you think. You can contact Dr. Julian Kenyon at 44 0 1962717000 in England. Dr. Kenyon can prescribe this medicine for you. Or you can contact Mr. David Webb who is the general manager at European Nutripharm. Best of luck, Ye

Hi Ye, I appreciate your sentiment but the Dr Kenyon you talk about is an "integrated medicine physician". Integrated medicine is pretty much universally regarded as a pseudoscience due to the fact that it "integrates" conventional medicine (i.e. evidence based) with "alternative" medicine (i.e. cloud cuckoo land - see homeopathy). This was the point I was trying to make initially. I won't just try _anything_, there has to be solid evidence behind any claim - otherwise all we are left with, at best, is false hope. And that, in my opinion, is of no good to any of us... Matt