Really Ill Patients - I assume that anyone who can see a doctor can participate in this program. Many very, very ill people see doctors. Mike Dessin was 6'3", weighed 114 lbs, couldn't stand up or tolerate noise or light and he found a way to see his last doctor. Yes there are some people who cannot even do that but there are still alot of REALLY, REALLY, REALLY ill people who see doctors. They all have to get blood drawn - just as in the patients in the BioBank do. There are going to be plenty of really, really ill people in that collaboration.
I don't know how much this is costing the CAA. They were smart to find a way to get federal funding for the project. I imagine they are on the hook for test kits, etc.?
I recently got blood drawn for a research study; it was about 20 bucks. I imagine some doctors can simply draw the blood at their office (?)
Faster, Cheaper, Better Research - This is a quick and efficient way to get researchers the samples they need to do their work. It will mean that they can do their work much faster and they can do it much cheaper and they can do it with patients who have been carefully characterized - all those things are problematic right now...it takes a long time to do studies; it takes alot of money...and no one really trusts anyone else's patients.
Check the Blood: Think of this: the Light's are doing the exercise studies right now. They're taking blood before and after people exercise and they just looked at cytokines and found something in the more severely ill patients but not in the less ill patients. Suppose someone comes along in a year or two and says "I know what's going on, its not the cytokines" that are really causing people pain its an different immune factor".
All they have to do is check the blood in the biobank. They don't have to enroll patients in another exercise study, have them get on that expensive bike, etc. -all they have to do is check the blood in the biobank! They don't need a $200,000 grant, They don't a year to get a grant proposal together and another year to get it funded. All they need to do is get permission to check the blood! This is dynamite stuff.
Want to know if XMRV is more active after patients exercise - check the blood!
Want to know if HHV6 is more active? - check the blood!
It's helpful for everyone but its perfect for small research efforts without alot of money - like the CAA's and MERUK's and other organization - who need to cut corners wherever they can. These are the groups that are doing the most creative research.
Dr. Peterson: There's no reason for Dr. Peterson necessarily to contribute samples to this - the WPI has their own bio-bank. I imagine he would have to take twice as many samples - and he's already taking a lot. The CAA is simply trying to expand that idea to take in more doctors. If we contribute to this and support it this is going to work for us -big time.
