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The WPI Story - David and Goliath

jace

Off the fence
Messages
856
Location
England
Dr Jamie Deckoff-Jones's new blog tells the story of how the WPI came into being, and tackles some of those knotty questions like

Are they in it for the money?

With permission, I'd like to tell you what I've learned about the institute and the people involved. In particular, I'd like to address the oft heard thread that runs something like this: the Whittemores are richer than God, so why don't they just cough up another few million dollars to save us?

Here is the reality. At a time when money was not as big an issue as it is now, the Whittemores, and other concerned patients, joined with Redlabs, owned by Dr. De Meirleir in Belgium, to start VIP Dx. This happened at great personal expense because a clinical research lab was needed to save their daughter, and others. The "and others" make the Whittemores special. They didn't just have the money. Lots of people have the money. They thought about the problem and applied the money in a way that no one else had done before. It wasn't about money, but the embodiment of parental love. This all happened well before there was a research lab. XMRV as a cause of CFS wasn't even a twinkle in anyone's eye.

Read on at http://treatingxmrv.blogspot.com/

The bad news is that they can't afford to open the clinic in May as hoped. We really need these people to get on with the work that will find the best way to treat us, XMRV or no XMRV.

So testing for XMRV is a gold mine, right? Wrong. VIP Dx hasn't even begun to pay back the original founders, nor can it cover all of its current existing expenses. It pays WPI a royalty (calculated as the net profit for administering the test) that puts it further in the red. Some of the founders donated their holdings or had their holdings placed in trust for the benefit of WPI. And Harvey, who manages the lab, has never been paid a dime. Never. The lab exists to unravel the mystery of our illnesses, as it was intended from the beginning. Here's the truth. VIP Dx has lost almost a million dollars since inception. Not accountants fiddling with red ink, but real losses. I have seen the actual numbers. Anyone want to donate to the cause?

More at http://treatingxmrv.blogspot.com/

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