Breaking News: WPI research program has been closed

[RustyJ]

Breaking news. The entire WPI research program has been closed by the institute's CEO, and the facility is now locked down. It's former principle investigator, Dr. Judy Mikovits, is in active discussions concerning institutions to which she may move to continue her grant-funded research. The institutions must remain unidentified, for obvious reasons, but its important for patients to know that she remains committed to continuing this critical work.

http://treatingxmrv.blogspot.com/

 

[PokerPlayer]

Just to forewarn the patient community, things are going to get really ugly in the near distant future.

What makes you so prescient of this? I don't like the tone of this post.

 

[LJS]

I am actually happy to see the WPI shut down its research effort. I think they have handled XMRV just about as poorly as they possibly could. They have reached a point of no return, no one in the science community takes them seriously, if they did make another big discovery no one would believe them. They have made CFS research look like a joke to outsiders looking in and this whole thing has been coming to a breaking point for sometime. My only hope at this point is that they have not done more damage then good for CFS research.

 

[moonchild]

The part i am really not understanding is that only yesterday i read that Dr. Mikovits had stated that the sequencing would be finished within a couple of weeks (i found this on here) - and Dr. Jamie's blog mentions knowing about this for a couple of weeks, which sounds like Dr. Mikovits would have known about the situation with the WPI at the time (and when she was presenting in Ottawa). Sorry in advance if i'm not making sense but i'm in shock and upset right now.

 

[RustyJ]

In terms of the BWG: I was told that the BWG specimens were being run in both the WPI research lab and the VIP Dx clinical lab. Though the labs were kept separate, and cooperation between the two labs was already very troubled, Dr. Mikovits believed that VIP Dx would succeed, and everything would be doubly validated.

When the results of the BWG were uncoded and revealed to all nine labs (but not yet made public), in early August, WPI was left in a bad place. Dr. Mikovits says that at that time she asked WPI management to stop offering the XMRV test at VIP Dx. But the testing was not stopped. Why?

Then, when the BWG results were finally made public on September 22, Dr. Mikovits was quoted as saying, "VIPdx lab will NOT continue XMRV-testing because it hasn't been shown to be reproducible in [the] BloodWorkingGroup". Shortly after she said this, cooperation between the two labs ceased completely and the research lab was closed. Why?

Is she saying this is an explanation of BWG WPI discrepancies? Mikovits trusted VIPdx, but VIPdx let her down?

 

[Undisclosed]

@Pokerplayer Because I know what's going on which is confidential. Not all the information is out there yet. Jamie Deckoff-Jones's blog is just the beginning. There is still more to come out. When, I don't know.This is just the start of it. This will be my last comment on this.

Eco

NEVER, EVER LOSE HOPE!

This sounds really ominous. Well, I guess if information needs to come out, then it needs to come out. I never lose hope, ever.

 

[heapsreal]

So does this mean no research but they still treat people??
Its abit of a shock but not suprising i suppose

 

[leela]

The BS just never ends! Why oh why cannot humans just move ahead and do what needs to be done with out all these crazy personal/political obstacles? I wish we could just know the whole truth now, so we could move on.

I feel like I've been beaten up.

 

[markmc20001]

Sad news. I suppose the lesson here is that it's very hard to mix the interests of business and medical research. Research is rarely a money-making business.

Many lessons to be learned.

Please be prepared for the politics, media, and special interests if you are involved in trying to find the truth in CFS research.

 

[WillowJ]

I feel like I've been beaten up.

hugs for you, leela

 

[leela]

Thank you, Willow.
And hugs for everyone, too.

 

[Andrew]

I didn't read it that way. That could just be me, though.

I didn't read it that way either. It says she did her own tests too. OTOH, her statement is sort of unclear.

Bummer news.

 

[RustyJ]

I didn't read it that way either. It says she did her own tests too. OTOH, her statement is sort of unclear.

Bummer news.

Actually, that's what I meant, the WPI tests were Mikovits tests, just not VIP dx tests. Sorry it is a bit confusing. It is arguable whether Mikovits will be able to take her tests with her, they probably will be kept by WPI, so they will be WPI tests. In my reading of it Mikovits tried to do the right thing by patients by declaring the VIP dx test invalid, but WPI didn't want to do this. Perhaps WPI did want to stop them, but in a way that didn't hurt them as much (hope I am not restating the obvious).

I guess the bad news coming could be a full retraction of Lombardi science paper.

If Silverman assays contaminated, Lombardi's (I think his were being used by VIP) assays not accurate, that's two-thirds of Science paper gone.

What a ride this has been for the last two years. I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

 

[justinreilly]

fyi, there is another thread on the topic, that needs to get merged. I have PMd an admin.

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/showthread.php?13972-Square-One-WPI-closed-down-XRx-blog-10-2-11

 

[RustyJ]

fyi, there is another thread on the topic, that needs to get merged. I have PMd an admin.

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/showthread.php?13972-Square-One-WPI-closed-down-XRx-blog-10-2-11

Thanks JR.

 

[justinreilly]

I feel like I've been beaten up.

Me too....

 

[justinreilly]

Thank you, Willow.
And hugs for everyone, too.

Thanks, I needed that. Will need some more in the coming days, I'm sure. Hugs out to everyone, too.

 

[alex3619]

Just to forewarn the patient community, things are going to get really ugly in the near distant future. But remember this point, there are still many dedicated scientific researchers conducting scientific experiments to find the cause and cure for this illness. The media might have a field day but remember this. NEVER, EVER LOSE HOPE!

Eco

The truth is always better. Ugly is OK for me as long as its factual. It is uncertainty that is the biggest issue for some of us. In my own case I can handle bad news easily - confused contradictory news however sets my brain into a spin. My reaction to the WPI news was a sad ironic laugh, I was more put out by the implications that the BWG results would be negative, while other pointers suggested it would be positive. For me the actual results were better than the confusion that preceded the announcement, regardless of the negative results. The history of CFS is full of disappointing things, this is just one more.

Counter-factual media claims are what annoy me, particularly hyperbolic ones. If the reporting is accurate I may not be happy but I accept it.

I do wish everyone involved the best, but we need the full story before we know how to react. The WPI has changed the face of ME and CFS research forever, regardless of how things turn out. More researchers are aware of the issues - I can only hope this bears fruit in time. My biggest concern at the moment is the implications this might have for the Lipkin study.

Bye
Alex

 

[Dreambirdie]

The BS just never ends! Why oh why cannot humans just move ahead and do what needs to be done with out all these crazy personal/political obstacles? I wish we could just know the whole truth now, so we could move on.

I feel like I've been beaten up.

I am with you on this, Leela. As if we need more stress and confusion!

Just really truly absolutely insane.

PS... and yes, HUGS, BIG HUGS for all of us.