Tell Ampligen Maker to Put Patients First!

[Cort]

Hemispherx is raising their prices and cutting their compassionate care program - pushing many of the ME/CFS patients getting it off of Ampligen...

Things seemed to be looking up for Hemispherx with its approval for ME/CFS in Argentina. The last thing I expected was for the company to lower the whammy on patients receiving the drug in the US - but they are.

It's a ugly and puzzling situation from a company which recently recommitted itself to getting the drug approved for ME/CFS

From the petition which you can sign here

As patients with ME (aka ME/CFS), we demand that Hemispherx, the makers of Ampligen, put patients first and restore the Ampligen clinical trial before serious harm occurs to trial participants and to prospects for FDA approval of the first ME medication.

We are outraged at the 167% increase in price for Ampligen in the clinical trial. Almost tripling the cost will cause many patients to stop the medicine with serious health consequences and shows how little you understand ME’s health and financial devastation.

We are outraged that Hemipherx is ending the compassionate care program which supports a very small number of patients with no financial resources. All drug companies should commit to compassionate care.
We are outraged at changes that would reduce the number of ME patients who can access the Ampligen trial. Patients need larger clinical trials and more opportunity to try Ampligen because we have no treatments. Restricting access to only current full-time participants removes any hope for most of us to try the medicine.

We wish every day for the first ME medicine to be approved by the FDA, so we can have 1 treatment to try and so pharmaceutical companies will invest in our disease. We have watched Ampligen patients advocate forcefully for its approval at the FDA. Many of us have signed petitions and letters, and we’ve testified at hearings, stakeholder meetings and to our elected officials that we need FDA to approve the first medicine for ME.

Hemispherx’s changes to the program are predatory and cruel, given our desperate need for approved treatments. Moreover, we believe your actions will damage prospects for FDA approval, and that will harm all of us. Ampligen, and therefore Hemispherx, cannot succeed without its patient base and advocacy. You must always put ME patients first.

We therefore urge the Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board of Hemispherx to: restore the prior price of Ampligen, retain the small, but critical compassionate care patients, and rescind efforts to restrict participation on the basis of current dosing only.