My letter to Tim Hunt, VP Biogen (Tysabri)

[Guest guest]

Tim Hunt, Vice President

Biogen idec

My name is ph Wouk. I am the youngest son of the novelist, Herman

Wouk. (The Caine Mutiny, War and Remembrance, etc.)

Six months ago, I nearly died from Progressive Relapsing Multiple

Sclerosis. I was suffering from Sub Cortical Dementia and was

beginning to enter Phase 3 which is out and out dementia.

I had been taking Copaxone which had done nothing for my symptoms and

gave me intolerable side effects. I went to my Dr. at UCSF, Dr.

Goodin and asked that he prescribe me Tysabri. He agreed and I was

put on the list to receive the drug.

UCSF had recently completed a patient funded study on the effects of

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) on Multiple Sclerosis. There was a little

notice on their site saying they had completed the study but no

results were mentioned. I asked Dr. Goodin if any positive results

had occured, and he told me that although he had expected nothing from

it, the eight week study had shown some positive results.

I asked him if I should take it if it wouldn't conflict with the

Tysabri. He said it couldn't hurt, and that the dose was so low (4.5

mg,) that there was no chance of a conflict. He gave me a

prescription for it and I began taking it the way one takes a vitamin

pill. I expected nothing but had a vague hope that maybe it would

help in some indefinable way.

The bureaucracy made error after error. Three months went by before my

approval for the Tysabri was granted.

Within a day or two of the approval, all my symptoms suddenly

vanished. The progression of the disease was completely halted.

I had been told by the best MS doctors on the west coast that there

was no treatment for progressive MS. They were wrong. After my

symptoms disappeared, I did my own research and discovered that LDN

has been halting progressive MS for the last 20 years.

Since that time my brain has bee rewiring itself around those portions

destroyed by the MS and I have been able to quit using the anti ADD

medication I had been forced to take in order to function.

The only reason nobody knows about LDN is that since it's a generic

drug, no company is willing to spend the money necessary to get FDA

approval for the low dose use for immune system disorders.

This must end with LDN and must be prevented from ever happening again

to another drug.

Naltrexone is FDA approved to help recovering addicts. It is an

opioid blocker. The low dose version (one tenth the 50 mg dose

approved for addicts) works by causing the body to produce triple the

endorphins it ordinarily does. This fortifies the immune system so

the body itself is able to fight the immune system related disease.

I am going to be trying to get legislation introduced to allow for the

re patenting of generic drugs when a new and important use is

discovered. If that law had been in effect, LDN would have gotten FDA

approval for MS and a host of other immune system related disorders 20

years ago. Millions of lives and countless hours of unnecessary

suffering would have been saved, and by now LDN would again be a

generic drug.

The loss incurred to the public of having to pay more for a re

patented drug is far outweighed by the benefits that will be received

by society from encouraging the exploration of new uses of existing

drugs for new purposes.

This is a problem that will only worsen with time. So many drugs are

being discovered all the time and so many of them are going generic

that there are clearly going to be more and more cases like LDN

popping up. This problem in our system must be dealt with immediately.

This may be one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve one

of the many problems that exist in our current health care system.

Since it would allow the pharmaceutical companies a new and relatively

easy way to make more money, I expect them to back my proposed change

to the patent law.

I have written a book entitled Google LDN ! about my experiences and

my suggested solution to the problem . It will be available worldwide

in about 6 weeks. If you are interested, I'd be happy to send you a

copy. In the meantime, the book can be purchased at:

http://www.lulu.com/content/5370145

Once the book becomes generally available I will be embarking on a

year long effort to promote the book and the solution to the problem

that it proposes. I plan to appear on every television or radio show

who is interested, as well as give interviews to every newspaper

interested in reporting on the story. After you read my book, I

believe you will understand just how much publicity is likely to

result on this issue.

I've been following closely the bad press Biogen has been receiving

lately because of the problems associated with Tysabri. According to

the WSJ this has impacted the price of the stock of your company.

I am hoping that Biogen will lend me it's assistance in drafting the

change to the US patent law described above. Although I am an

attorney trained at Columbai Law School, I have no experience in

patent law and need help in drafting the proposed legislation.

Biogen could benefit enormously if this new legislation gets passed.

Testing generic drugs for their effects on other diseases is a much

cheaper process than developing new drugs from scratch.

Additionally, if Biogen were to begin testing LDN's effects on immune

system related diseases now, they would be in a position to claim the

new patent the minute the law got changed.

The reason I chose Biogen is because of the company's experience in

developing drugs to help MS sufferers, as well as the damage done to

the company from the bad press resulting from the Tysabri problems.

If Biogen were to begin working on LDN in conjunction with helping

change the patent law, they would be in a position to completely

reverse the damage done to the company by the Tysabri problems as well

as be in a position to make billions of dollars from LDN should the

law get changed to allow for re patenting.

Please pass this information up to your board of directors.

Please contact me if you have any interest in my proposal. If I don't

hear from you within two weeks I will assume you are not interested,

and will contact other Pharmaceutical companies for their help.

Warmest,

ph Wouk

831-440-8568

831-332-7682 (cell

Thank you for your consideration in this matter.