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Latest cortene email

Hopeful1976

Senior Member
Messages
345
Just received this email detailing latest info:

Dear Friends of Cortene, We are writing to let you know we have just completed our clinical trail in ME/CFS earlier this week. As you may already be aware, the trial was based upon our theory that a single receptor was up-regulated in the brains of ME/CFS patients. It proposed a novel therapeutic approach, in which a short exposure to a novel peptide (CT38) was intended to down-regulatethe receptor, leading to symptom improvement. Our small (n=14) trial utilized 3 treatments of CT38, at 4 different dose-levels (no placebo). While we understand you are anxious to hear about our observations, it would be premature to share these until the data has been thoroughly reviewed and analyzed. We anticipate it will take 1-2 months to complete our analysis and write up our findings. That said, we have found the data encouraging and believe they support moving toward a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial. This will require significant funding and we are currently pursuing various channels to support continued development. We look forward to sharing more details soon and thank you for your continued support and patience. Regards, Michael
 

perrier

Senior Member
Messages
1,254
Just received this email detailing latest info:

Dear Friends of Cortene, We are writing to let you know we have just completed our clinical trail in ME/CFS earlier this week. As you may already be aware, the trial was based upon our theory that a single receptor was up-regulated in the brains of ME/CFS patients. It proposed a novel therapeutic approach, in which a short exposure to a novel peptide (CT38) was intended to down-regulatethe receptor, leading to symptom improvement. Our small (n=14) trial utilized 3 treatments of CT38, at 4 different dose-levels (no placebo). While we understand you are anxious to hear about our observations, it would be premature to share these until the data has been thoroughly reviewed and analyzed. We anticipate it will take 1-2 months to complete our analysis and write up our findings. That said, we have found the data encouraging and believe they support moving toward a randomized, double blind, placebo controlled trial. This will require significant funding and we are currently pursuing various channels to support continued development. We look forward to sharing more details soon and thank you for your continued support and patience. Regards, Michael
Thanks so much for posting this. Dear Hope, where did you find this? Also, how in the world should we interpret: "we have found the data encouraging". What does this really mean? So many families are sitting on the edge of their chairs, we really need a bit more information. Were the patients mildly ill, moderately, or severe? Surely there is info out there. Please post, if someone has it.
 

junkcrap50

Senior Member
Messages
1,330
Also, how in the world should we interpret: "we have found the data encouraging". What does this really mean? So many families are sitting on the edge of their chairs, we really need a bit more information.

I think we should interpret it as: "So far so good, means we can continue on to the next stage. So far, no obvious faults or issues, so it's worth investing more time and money into this theory / peptide. It's also not harmful to or worse for CFS patients, as that would likely prevent us from continuing on. We [may have / think we] observed some slight improvements observationally in [some of] our patients."

Next stage is a is double-blind, placebo controlled trial (like they state) and more money invested. Next they want to make sure it's not a placebo effect and statistically different from healthy/normal patients. So I think this is a very good sign! They've completed 2 steps already: (1) animal model & testing (for safety & effect) and now (2) a small non-blinded CFS patient trial. So they're moving along. (Though I know it's too slow for us). They likely saw some sort of symptomatic, qualitative improvement in their patients, because they haven't yet looked closely at / analyzed any data. But without analyzing the data, they still don't know if their "theory" holds up completely (may be temporary, may not fix the problem they theorize about, may work via different ways, etc.). So, not totally good news yet. Hopefully, their theory still holds and is reversed.

Disclaimer: I'm reading into a lot from very little info. So take my comments with a grain of salt. I can't be sure I'm accurate.
 

MonkeyMan

Senior Member
Messages
405
How in the world should we interpret: "we have found the data encouraging". What does this really mean?
It's meaningless corporate blather, deliberately worded so as to reveal nothing that could cause false-claim legal issues if the trials flop while at the same time intended to keep investors etc interested. Trying to interpret it would be like trying to figure out the Mona Lisa's smile. Save your energy. Nothing to see here.
 

Diwi9

Administrator
Messages
1,780
Location
USA
It's meaningless corporate blather, deliberately worded so as to reveal nothing that could cause false-claim legal issues if the trials flop while at the same time intended to keep investors etc interested. Trying to interpret it would be like trying to figure out the Mona Lisa's smile. Save your energy. Nothing to see here.
Possibly, but if the drug was completely ineffective, why spend money on additional trials for this illness? I'm not without caution, as the Rituximab Phase III trial showed a strong placebo effect, with the caveat that I also in-part feel can be attributed to the fluctuations in this illness...as I believe there is a portion of our broad group that can benefit from this intervention based on patient reports.
 

Hopeful1976

Senior Member
Messages
345
I can't remember how I got on a mailing list. Memory is a sieve. I did email them via their contact us on their web page so it probably came from there. I'm not on s4me so if anyone is, please do copy my email. When I got this tonight ( I am uk), my first thought was to share it with you guys. Every day I pray for something to help us all. I don't think they'd post these words if there really was nothing to be positive about. But that's my hopeful view.
 
Good news posted by Cort a few hours ago!

"...The drug appears to be safe. The ME/CFS patients, interestingly, reacted to the drug at far lower doses than the healthy controls did in a past study. That unusual sensitivity potentially validates Cortene’s disease hypothesis and could indicate that CT38 may be getting at a core part of ME/CFS. The fact that the limited doses of CT38 given to the patients appeared to produce long term (4 weeks) symptom improvement also supports this novel treatment approach for ME/CFS."