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MAP Vaccine Ready for Human Trials - Could be Used for Crohn's

Professor John Herman Taylor is at the very forefront of research into Crohn's disease and is a researcher at St Georges university London.
His vaccine is ready to go to human trials!

"We have made such a vaccine against MAP. It took us 8 years and cost, in cash terms, around £750,000. In extensive pre-clinical tests in mice and recently in cattle, the vaccine given in 2 shots has proved to be a powerful and safe long-lasting stimulant of anti-MAP immune cells with no side effects. It is highly effective against MAP. The vaccine has an excellent chance of doing the same thing for people with Crohn’s disease. With the funding we can get the vaccine GMP manufactured for human use and conduct the essential approved Clinical Trials."

I recently emailed the professor asking how things were going, he replied with this;

"The vaccine has given us excellent results in a 3 year BBSRC funded trial which finished this spring 2013.
No side effects.
We have just submitted a big grant application to the gov's Technology Strategy Board for money to manufacture the vaccine for human trials. Will hear Jan 24th whether we get final interview Feb 18/19.

Thanks....John H-T."

Administrator note: If you want to help open the attachment below. - Jennifer​
 

Attachments

This is what came up when I googled John Herman Taylor:

Professor John Hermon-Taylor of Saint George's, University of London, is appealing for help to fund the final stages of development of a new Crohn's vaccine, which is now ready to proceed to human clinical trials.

Crohn's Disease
Crohn's disease is a severe inflammation of the intestine causing untold misery to almost 180,000 sufferers in the UK alone, and millions in the rest of the world. In many cases there are clear genetic links, but there is now good scientific evidence that the disease is caused by the bug Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP).
Over a period of 8 years and at a cost of about £1.5 million, a research team at St George's Hospital Medical School (now St George's, University of London) led by Professor John Hermon-Taylor, has developed a state-of-the-art modern therapeutic vaccine to kill MAP and get rid of the distressing symptoms that blight the lives of so many sufferers and their families.

The vaccine will move to clinical trials and market development over the next three years. Over this period there is an absolute scientific requirement to develop tests that will establish proof that the vaccine will make people with Crohn's disease better. This final essential piece of scientific research will require £550,000.


You can also help by signing the online petition to the government for funding.


More about the disease, the new vaccine and the appeal...
What is Crohn's disease?
Most people know of someone with Crohn's disease symptoms. The principal manifestation is chronic inflammation of the intestine (colitis or IBD) with stomach pain and diarrhoea. Crohn's Disease (CD) affects your whole life, and that of your family. It is a 'new' disease which emerged in the mid 1940s and has now become common. There are probably more than 180,000 people suffering from it in Britain, rising at the rate of about 5,000 per year. In Europe CD is rising at about 25% per decade. In children the rate of increase is much higher.
Some Crohn's advice can be found on the Action Medical Research website.

What causes Crohn's disease?
The causation of Crohn's Disease has not been fully understood, nor recognised. As a consequence, conventional research and treatment are directed almost exclusively at suppressing the inflammation. This may help in the short term, but the disease almost invariably comes back. Most people with CD eventually have surgery, sometimes on more than one occasion. Epidemiological research has shown that the long term prospects for people with Crohns Disease have not improved significantly in 35 years.

Progress so far
Research we began and have continued since 1985, and which is now increasingly being taken up and confirmed by other research laboratories, shows that Crohn's Disease is largely caused by a bug called MAP (short for Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis). The reliable scientific evidence for this has grown very strong.

• MAP infection is widespread in the animal world.
• MAP is being transmitted to humans in milk and from exposure to environmental sources like contaminated waters.
• MAP in people is difficult to detect. The tests have to be done just right. When they are, almost everyone with Crohn's Disease is found to be infected with MAP.
• MAP is what is called in microbiology a multi-host pathogen with the proven scientific ability to cause chronic inflammation of the intestine in many animals including primates. MAP is doing the same thing to people.

Modern Vaccines
MAP infections are difficult to eradicate. They are resistant to most antibiotics and drugs used to treat TB. In 1992, Prof Hermon-Taylor introduced a new treatment for Crohn's Disease using a combination of two recently available drugs more active against MAP, called rifabutin and clarithromycin. They work in over 50% of people with active CD who can take them. Relapses sometimes occur. New anti-MAP treatments such as modern therapeutic vaccines are needed. Conventional vaccines make antibodies to prevent disease. They could not work in CD as the MAP bugs are already there inside cells. Modern vaccines make armies of hunter-killer cells which patrol the body getting rid of infected cells. So modern vaccines can be used to treat diseases caused by chronic infections.

A Crohn's cure?
Prof Hermon-Taylor and his team began seeking funding in 2001. Since then they have received and committed over £1.5 million. With this they have designed and delivered a state-of-the-art modern anti-MAP vaccine. It consists of a critically important cassette of MAP DNA in two harmless carrier viruses called Ad5 and MVA. These carriers are already working in approved clinical trials with other modern vaccines. In the Crohn's Disease vaccination treatment procedure, the Ad5 is given first and the MVA boost 6 weeks later. In multiple tests over the last two years, the Crohn's vaccine has consistently proved to be effective both in treating existing MAP infection and protecting against subsequent MAP infection, without any side effects.

What is still needed?
We have come a long way and are nearly there. The Crohn's treatment will move to clinical trials and market development over the next 3 years. Over this period there is an absolute scientific requirement to develop new quantitative tests for MAP in humans, new immunological tests for MAP in humans, and tests for the specific immune responses of people to the vaccine. Together these tests will establish proof of concept that anti-MAP vaccination can make people with Crohn's disease better, and it does so by depleting or eradicating the MAP infection. This final essential piece of scientific research will require £550,000.
 
hey rrhood1 - that information regarding the progress of the vaccine is out-of-date, if you check the bottom of the web page you will see :)
The email I got was received about 2 weeks ago!
 
Why can't I find any decent information about this guy on google? He's mentioned once or twice in other peoples biographies on the St Georges website and theres that daily mail article but other than that it's just a load of extremely dated looking websites.

And OP where has your information come from?

EDIT:

I found a Facebook fundraising group run by his daughter, I can't link it as its against forum rules but I found the following post interesting.

A post on 4 Dec 2013:

"What's one thing you wish everyone knew about IBD?

That a treatment #vaccine for Crohn's has been made and is awaiting a trial in humans.
A Crohn's cure is so very close
Help me raise the money to fund the trial!
"

:luigi:
 
Last edited:
I just finished watching those videos too. Aside from everything else, the bit that stood out to me the most was when he was talking about it being airborne (in either the 2nd or third part, Ican't remember) and people breathing it in and developing a cough before they developed Crohn's. That's exactly what happened to me. I had this horrible persistent cough for a couple of weeks before my Crohn's symptoms started showing up. Until that video I never would have thoughts the two would be related! But maybe..
 
Article I found on- line about Prof Hermon-Taylor's research:

Review
Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis, Crohn's disease and the Doomsday scenario
John Hermon-Taylor

Correspondence: John Hermon-Taylor j.hermon@kcl.ac.uk

Author Affiliations
Division of Nutritional Sciences, Franklin-Wilkins Building, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London, SE1 9NH, UK

Gut Pathogens 2009, 1:15 doi:10.1186/1757-4749-1-15


The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.gutpathogens.com/content/1/1/15


Received:9 July 2009
Accepted:14 July 2009
Published:14 July 2009
© 2009 Hermon-Taylor; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
Johne's disease is chronic inflammation of the intestine caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis. Infection and disease are mainly in domestic livestock but can affect many species including primates. Johne's is a new disease which emerged at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and principally involved Europe and North America. It has since spread to former low incidence regions to become a global problem. Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammation of the intestine in humans which emerged in Europe and North America mid 20th century and increased to become a major healthcare problem. It has now spread to former low incidence regions. Infected animals shed Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis in milk and into the environment. Human populations are widely exposed. Outcomes maybe influenced by microbial phenotype. Exposure to extracellular forms of these pathogens may confer some natural protection; exposure to intracellular forms which have passaged through milk macrophages or environmental protists may pose a greater threat to humans particularly individuals with an inherited or acquired susceptibility. Hot spots of human disease such as in Winnipeg which sits on rock at the junction of two rivers may result from local exposure to high levels of waterborne pathogens brought down from farmland. When appropriate methods are used most people with Crohn's disease are found to be infected. There are no data which demonstrate that these pathogens are harmless to humans. An overwhelming balance of probability and Public health risk favours the conclusion that Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis is also pathogenic for people. A two tier co-operative pathogenic mechanism is proposed in Crohn's disease. Intracellular infection with the primary pathogen widely distributed throughout the gut causes an immune dysregulation and a specific chronic enteric neuropathy with loss of mucosal integrity. Segments of gross inflammatory disease result from the perturbed neuroimmune response to penetration into the gut wall of secondary pathogens from the lumen. These include both normal gut organisms and educated members of the enteric microbiome such as more aggressive E. coli. More new diseases may arise from failure to apply a range of remedial measures to this longstanding zoonotic problem.

Review
MAP and the emergence of Johne's and Crohn's diseases
Johne's disease (JD) is a systemic infection and chronic inflammation of the intestine in animals caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). It is most common in ruminants but can affect many other species including primates. It was first seen to emerge in Europe and North America at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Crohn's disease (CD) in humans is a systemic disorder whose principal clinico-pathological manifestation is also chronic inflammation of the intestine. It is also a new disease which was first seen to emerge in the same continents 40–50 years after JD and increased in frequency steadily until it has become a major healthcare problem. In some areas in the USA in recent years the incidence of CD has seemed to plateau around 7–8 per 105 population per year [1,2]. In Europe the incidence of CD in adults continues to grow [3-5]. Studies in Stockholm, Czech Republic, and Australia supported by data from Finland suggest that the incidence of CD in children in these areas in recent years has been rising in some cases as high as about 5 fold per decade [6-9]. These rapid changes in incidence rule out a primary genetic causation of CD. The data from recent genome wide scans which has identified 32 significant genomic loci related to susceptibility to CD are consistent with the involvement of intracellular bacterial pathogens including mycobacteria, in disease causation [10].

The rising incidence of CD reported from several former low incidence countries in Asia shows that, as with JD, CD is spreading worldwide [11,12]. Recent work from New Zealand reported a high incidence of CD of 16.5 per 105 per year affecting the Canterbury region of South Island with Christchurch as its principal city [13]. Mountains are to the northwest and rivers from them run across rich agricultural pastures and either side of Christchurch before entering the sea. A small river meanders through the city itself. Some of these features are reminiscent of the situation in Cardiff, South Wales UK where a high incidence of CD in city wards bordering the river Taff draining the upland pastures of the Brecons and running through the city was consistent with exposure of the local population to aerosols from the river [14].

A conspicuously anomalous distribution in the incidence of CD exists in North America either side of the Canadian border between Minnesota and Manitoba. In Minnesota to the south the well documented population-based incidence of CD in Olmsted County is 7.9 per 105/year [1] whereas in some areas of the city of Winnipeg little more than 400 miles to the north the incidence reaches a maximum 3.5 fold greater at 28.07 per 105/year [15]. Winnipeg lies astride the junction of the Red River of the North running up from the south and the Assiniboine River coming in from the west. The city sits on bedrock which was once the floor of the immense prehistoric glacial lake Agassiz, with scant run-off in permeable sand and gravel aquifers [16]. The 'hot spot' of CD in the city of Winnipeg we see now is probably due to local exposure of the human population to high levels of waterborne MAP brought down from the agricultural river catchments of the US Midwest, meeting those from the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. Waterborne MAP under these conditions would almost certainly include organisms which have adopted the intracellular phenotype having been taken up by abundant environmental protists [17].

Movement of people and pathogen
Migrant studies show that the incidence of CD in people moving from a low CD and JD incidence area to a high incidence area subsequently rises to that of the host population. The inverse situation is that in which MAP is introduced into an isolated community usually by importation of infected animals. This happened in Iceland in 1933 [reviewed in [18]]. After a latent period following introduction of the pathogen there were at intervals successive epidemics of JD in the island sheep, then in the cattle, then CD in the human population. From 1960 to a peak in 1992 the incidence of CD increased 18 fold. Thus in either case, if people move in amongst MAP or if MAP is moved in amongst people the result is the same namely a steep rise in the incidence of CD. The time interval between the emergence and rise of JD in animals and CD in humans in Iceland was again about 40–50 years. With the almost unlimited opportunity for MAP to spread and evolve in intensively farmed domestic livestock and associated contaminated environments over more than a half century, an evolving virulence and species adaptation of the pathogen would be reflected in the JD to CD interval becoming shorter. A recent example of this happening maybe the steep 4.5 fold increase in CD in the Czech Republic 1995–2007 following the rise in JD caused by the unimpeded importation of subclinically infected cattle from Western Europe after independence in 1990.

Natural Immunity to MAP from environmental and occupational exposure
Why don't dairy farmers and veterinarians exposed to MAP-infected animals get a much higher incidence of CD? Data from the US show that these occupations are in fact associated with a significantly reduced death rate from Inflammatory Bowel Disease [19]. Children exposed to farm animals, particularly cattle, in early life also subsequently have a lower incidence of CD [20]. Occupational exposure to MAP is associated with raised antibody levels to MAP lysates [21]. An answer to the question consistent with these observations is that the extracellular classical ZN-positive phenotype of MAP excreted in trillions by heavily infected animals is not one to which humans are most susceptible. Exposure to this form of the organism may result in the acquisition of some natural immunity to disease. A good example of this happening as a result of purposeful exposure is the approximate 10 fold reduction in clinical Johne's disease achieved subsequently by vaccination of calves using conventional whole killed MAP vaccines with the organisms in this form [22]. The well described urban preponderance of CD may not be that townsfolk have an increased susceptibility to CD, rather that country folk have some natural protection. Passage of MAP through bovine macrophages in milk and cheese or through environmental protists would result in a switch to an intracellular phenotype of MAP likely to have an enhanced virulence for humans [23,24].

MAP and the convergence of candidate pathogens
With the new 21st century, a steadily increasing volume of parallel research has identified three principal sets of bacteria as candidates for the causation of the gross inflammatory disease of the intestine in CD. These are the community of normal gut flora [25], abnormal gut flora such as adherent invasive E. coli (AIEC) [26], and MAP. Because of the global advance of CD and the serious implications for Public Health as well as cumulative individual suffering, there is a need for researchers and clinicians in the field to recognise that the reliable evidence obtained from each of the three lines of inquiry is convergent and that there is actually no conflict between them.

From experimental as well as clinical evidence there is no doubt that bacteria from the normal intestinal microbial community can infect and inflame the gut wall and that they do so in CD. However, the spontaneous emergence and rise of CD in human populations across the globe due to an epidemic of normal gut flora, in the absence of another specific initiating cause, seems rather improbable. The enteric microbiome is a fertile environment for horizontal gene transfer [27]. Advancement of pathogenicity in bacteria may follow the acquisition and mutation of genes and changes in their regulation [28-30]. We already have examples of the pathological consequences of such adaptation in common gut bacteria such as E. coli which can be enteropathogenic, enterohaemorrhagic, enterotoxigenic, enteroaggregative and recently enteroadherent and invasive AIEC [31]. Such adaptations usually arise due to the imposition of some external selection pressure. Recent evidence also suggests that common enteric bacteria like E. coli may display predictive behaviour [32].

The principal property of MAP which distinguishes it from all other candidate pathogens in the primary causation of CD is that it is an established multi-host chronic enteric pathogen. MAP has the proven specific ability to initiate and maintain chronic inflammation of the intestine of a range of different histopathological types in many species including primates. MAP infection in animals causes a local and systemic immune dysregulation. It is also specifically neuropathogenic especially for non-myelinated neurones and intestinal disease is accompanied by a chronic enteric neuropathy [33]. Despite its broad pathogenicity, MAP infection can persist in animals for years without necessarily progressing to clinical disease. Clinical disease in animals when it occurs is commonly of the pluribacillary type but paucimicrobial disease with the pathogens in a Ziehl Neelsen (ZN)-negative phenotype is well described.

The overall prevalence of MAP infection in US dairy herds is reported by a USDA survey to be 68.1% [34]. A range of broadly similar data shows that MAP infection in farm animals is widespread in many areas of Western Europe and elsewhere. MAP contaminates and persists in water and the environment, is in dairy products, can survive milk pasteurisation, and is present in meat from infected animals. It is inevitable that human populations are widely exposed.

MAP in humans
MAP infection in humans is difficult to detect. The organisms are present in low abundance in a robust ZN-negative phenotype. They are intracellular and minimise their own immune recognition. They are extremely difficult to isolate and propagate in culture and are relatively resistant to chemical and enzymatic lysis. Reliable access to their DNA is only achieved during sample processing by combining exposure to stringent lysis buffers with an additional optimised mechanical disruption step. Freezing samples and tissue extracts especially at -20°C substantially reduces the PCR detection rate of their GC-rich DNA. The organisms have been cultured and detected in blood showing that, as in animals, the infection in humans is systemic [35-37]. At present, the benchmark diagnostic test for MAP infection in humans is nested PCR applied to single ~20 mg fresh endoscopic mucosal biopsies [38]. When validated methodologies have been used most people with CD have been found to be infected with MAP [39]. In simple words, most people with chronic inflammation of the intestine (of the CD type) are infected with a mycobacterium which is a proven specific cause of chronic inflammation of the intestine. There are no data which demonstrate that MAP are harmless to humans. The overwhelming balance of probability and public health risk favours the conclusion that MAP are also pathogenic for people.

Inflammation in Crohn's disease caused by a two tier co-operative pathogenic mechanism
MAP infects the gut widely in CD and is found both in the more normal looking intestine and the grossly inflamed and diseased segments of intestine [33]. MAP antigens have appeared to dominate the immunological responses of intestinal CD4 T cell lines from patients with CD [40]. Mannans released by MAP inhibit intracellular killing of internalised bacteria [41].

The MAP infection causes a primary microscopic inflammation accompanied by a specific immune dysregulation and enteric neuropathy [33]. Mucosal integrity and other critical functions of the intestine are impaired. The visible segments of gross inflammatory disease result from the perturbed neuroimmune response to the secondary penetration into the gut wall of gut flora containing both normal intestinal bacteria and those which have undergone transformations leading to a more invasive phenotype like AIEC. It is important to note that genomic loci in the host conferring genetic susceptibility to Crohn's disease have the potential to operate at the levels of both primary and secondary pathogens. The entry of food residues into the gut wall contributes an allergic component to the inflammatory mess. Although MAP has been found in intestinal granulomas in humans [42], the presence or absence of these and other features of the variable histopathological picture of CD are principally determined by the large scale response to the secondary co-pathogens including especially other granulomatous species like M. avium subspecies avium which are frequently recovered in culture from CD tissues [38]. Thus the three lines of contemporary research inquiry come together in a two tiered co-operative pathogenic mechanism.

MAP doomsday
Imagine the collective human enteric microbiome in, say, a crowded Europe. A vast composite structure made up of millions of individual highly mobile microbial reservoirs variably interconnected in time and space and degree. A dynamic structure possessing an inherent self governing order and stability not easily displaced. Into this cellular system is progressively introduced a slowly growing specific mycobacterial pathogen which has acquired the genetic machinery necessary to cloak itself with a predicted fucosylated surface [43] so that it conforms with the familiar molecular environment particularly of the host's epithelial cells and mucosal compartment [44]. It has come from the parallel universe of the collective enteric microbiome of human food animals and before that from the soil. It causes a microscopic inflammation and perturbs the microenvironment of the mucosa and gut wall. To survive and prosper it minimises its confrontation with the human immune system. It causes a variable immune dysregulation but it also inflames the fine structure and function of the enteric nervous system.

More than a hundred years go by. Both animal and human total microbiomes swell with increasing population density. The mycobacterial pathogen acquires additional properties resulting in an evolution in its behaviour with an increase in pathogenicity and species range. Some normal inhabitants of the enteric microbiome adapt to the disturbed intestinal microenvironment and they too acquire characteristics which make them more invasive. Chronic enteric disease emerges and spreads particularly in individuals with an inherited or acquired susceptibility. Humans responsible for controlling and managing these diseases, blind to what is really happening are distracted by detail and dismissive. The required remedial measures are not designed and applied and the problems get worse. Left undisturbed, maybe the education in hostility already received by increasingly aggressive members of the former normal gut flora will progress to the point where they too can emerge from background to become primary independent pathogens in their own right. When they do so more new diseases will emerge.

Can anti-MAP treatment heal Crohn's disease?
The answer to this question supported by a correct interpretation of data both from open label studies [45-48] and the Australian controlled clinical trial is a qualified yes [49-51]. It can in some people with CD some of the time. When it does so in 'responders' receiving treatment with drug combinations including rifabutin and clarithromycin the clinical and pathological improvement can be dramatic and has been associated with the conversion of pre-treatment MAP positive tests in blood [52] and gut mucosa (my own unpublished observations) to negative. Furthermore, some of the clinical benefit resulting from treatment of CD with conventional 'immunosuppressive' agents such as 6-mercaptopurine or methotrexate may actually be a consequence of their demonstrable direct anti-MAP action [53-55]. But MAP infections are difficult to eradicate. The organisms are generally resistant in vivo to drugs conventionally used in the treatment of tuberculosis. Treatment is prone to all the problems of microbial drug resistance and latency encountered in the management of chronic lung disease caused by other members of the M. Avium Complex.

New clinical trials are needed of anti-MAP treatment in CD particularly of agents developed for the treatment of M. tuberculosis which are active against mycobacteria in the non-replicative state [56] and where the gene encoding the molecular target is shared by MAP. Rich clinical and commercial rewards are out there for those who do so successfully.

Conclusion
Recognition and acceptance of the true nature of the expanding long term threat to human health posed by widespread exposure to MAP, based upon a perceptive understanding of the problem and the overwhelming balance of reliable scientific evidence, is a matter of urgency. The solutions lie in the identification and incremental introduction of a range of remedial measures which are both scientific and regulatory whose effective application on a global scale requires close international cooperation.


HD
 
I just finished watching those videos too. Aside from everything else, the bit that stood out to me the most was when he was talking about it being airborne (in either the 2nd or third part, Ican't remember) and people breathing it in and developing a cough before they developed Crohn's. That's exactly what happened to me. I had this horrible persistent cough for a couple of weeks before my Crohn's symptoms started showing up. Until that video I never would have thoughts the two would be related! But maybe..
my son dx @ 10 yrs old had (and still has) a persistent cough for about 4 years or so doctors can only say its post nasal drip
 
We need this N O W!
Im with you, I've definitely started celebrating far too soon but i couldnt sleep last night after watching those youtube videos of his speech. The government needs to give this man some damn money so he can do his trials already! :poo:

...and if it turns out not to work ill start trying fecal transplants.


...and if that doesnt work i'll call it a day, move to amsterdam, and get high until i run out of money.
 
The money is the least of all problems, if that is the only thing being left for the vaccine to become a reality, then we´ll start a petition/crowdsourcing.

I will contact them as soon as they open again.
 
The money is the least of all problems, if that is the only thing being left for the vaccine to become a reality, then we´ll start a petition/crowdsourcing.

I will contact them as soon as they open again.
let us know how you go w contacting them please. i'm hopefully going to be starting anti-map therapy in feb. praying it is the thing that fixes me up. upon lots of research I am very hopeful but as we all know w this disease theres such an element of unknown that hangs over us like a dark shadow.
 
Joshua - good luck with the anti-map; hopefully it will get you into deep steady remission. How are you going to do this ? do you have a DR who will treat you bythis protocol ? are you participating in some trial ?
 
Hi worriedboy, I'm going to see dr Borody who will do a scope on me and then pending tests start me on the therapy. Thanks for the well wishes, I do believe it's going to be the thing that works. By process of elimination the only thing that could be causing my illness is an infection, if it were my immune system going haywire then the immuno suppressants would be working...
 
I doubt the established drug companies will support this! they will most likely tear the study a part and call failure during its initial stages
 

kiny

Well-known member
Established drug companies are not interested in crohn's disease causality. Most are interested in using crohn's disease as a platform for RA development.

Since people with crohn's disease are often desperate for a treatment, they are an easy candidate to test immunosupressants on. (like tisabri where they managed to kill people)

Research should be going to how microbes / paneth cells / autophagy / genes are related to crohn's disease so people have safe treatment.

I doubt everyone with crohn's disease harbours MAP, it is really unlikely you can single out a pathogen, but this person actually gives hope to people and tries to cure people, which is great.

We don't need more treatment in the form of immunosupressants with all the risks attached to them, we need safer treatment.
 
MAP doesn't cause all cases, crohns likely has multiple causes, I don't think there is any disease that is just caused by one particular pathogen/bacteria. But hopefully this will be a cure for the vast majority of people with crohns. AEIC is another potential causative. Theres a lot of unknowns but one thing is for certain, crohns certainly is not an auto-immune disease, it's an infection, they're finding out now that the reason remicade may have the success it does
Is because it kills cells that are infected.
 
I'd like to add that Koch's postulates (the scientific criteria required to prove something causes a disease) has been fulfilled for MAP and crohn's, so that's not open for discussion, it's like trying to argue gravity. What's frustrating is so many practitioners aren't even aware of Koch's postulates... Furthermore, in an early anti-map trial (I posted the results on the forum somewhere) anti-map has had the highest remission rate ever reported, and that was a flawed design that actually made the results appear less effective, the remission response was 66% at 16+ weeks I believe, remicade was 36% at 26 weeks, ad they used CDAI which is notoriously unreliable.
 
To the people who think large drugs companies are going to try to ban this vaccine - you can't think that way about all of these cures/vaccines that exist. Drug companies will profit from such vaccines by manufacturing/distributing them. Think about it - there are loads of vaccines available for a variety of diseases that could otherwise be 'treated' temporarily.
 
Everybody needs to go on that "run for Crohns" page on facebook, on that page is alink to a charity set up by Amy Herman Taylor, the professors daughter.
 
Everybody needs to go on that "run for Crohns" page on facebook, on that page is alink to a charity set up by Amy Herman Taylor, the professors daughter.
Sadly we're not allowed to promote charity collections on the forum for some reason. It would be nice to be able to get the word out to a large group of crohns sufferers so that some worthwhile donations could be made. I can't see why anybody with crohns wouldn't be willing to at least throw a tenner their way, even if they dont believe the MAP idea.
 
I wonder whether the minutes of the strategy board are published.

May I suggest all of us in the UK write to our MPs and try to get them to lobby, raise questions and so on about this. It might also be possible to try and get some news coverage?!

Edit: they do have a website. Lots of interesting info on there.

I wonder whether there's other places funding could be found. What about Kickstarter?
 
Sadly we're not allowed to promote charity collections on the forum for some reason. It would be nice to be able to get the word out to a large group of crohns sufferers so that some worthwhile donations could be made. I can't see why anybody with crohns wouldn't be willing to at least throw a tenner their way, even if they dont believe the MAP idea.

I know thats why I didn't post the link ;) (winky face, see what I did there)
 
I wonder whether the minutes of the strategy board are published.

May I suggest all of us in the UK write to our MPs and try to get them to lobby, raise questions and so on about this. It might also be possible to try and get some news coverage?!

Edit: they do have a website. Lots of interesting info on there.

I wonder whether there's other places funding could be found. What about Kickstarter?

I've sent the story in to the BBC if loads of people did the same thing then they are bound to do some sort of story on it!
 
My Prof at another major London hospital has always been dismissive of the MAP theory, I must ask him about that again at my next appointment in a few weeks time. I hope Prof Hermon-Taylor is right, I would happily give him £50k if I knew it would cure me.
 
My Prof at another major London hospital has always been dismissive of the MAP theory, I must ask him about that again at my next appointment in a few weeks time. I hope Prof Hermon-Taylor is right, I would happily give him £50k if I knew it would cure me.
Hey there, it's a hot debate issue with those in the field, if you send me your email address in a pm I could send you the paper written by professor John Herman-Taylor and show you his evidence :)
 
Hi all, received an email from the professor this week regarding WHY the vaccine won't be receiving any further funding from the Technology Strategy Board;


"Yes....it was a great blow to be rejected by the Technology Strategy Board.

We had hired an excellent professional to assist us with the application, and intense period lasting the whole of November. He has done many of these and put our application in the top quartile for excellence. So also essentially did our top vaccine partners at the Jenner Vaccine Institute in Oxford. So our outright rejection doesn't make sense.

I think we hit political enemies.....as so often with this issue.

I think you should get as many Crohn's families as you can to complain strongly against the decision.

With the wonderful results of the vaccine against MAP in cattle and no side effects a great potential improvement has been denied to the Crohn's community.

please quote any of this email as you think appropriate.

An appalling decision. If you can persuade them to re-consider or launch an appeal so much the better.

best wishes...John "
 
Definitely some political bullshit going on, think about the controversy that would come out if it indeed turned out map to be the main causative, food industry would take a beating. There has to be some sort of way we can appeal, change.org or something...
 
Hi all, received an email from the professor this week regarding WHY the vaccine won't be receiving any further funding from the Technology Strategy Board....

An appalling decision. If you can persuade them to re-consider or launch an appeal so much the better.

best wishes...John "
electrichead, I wonder if Prof Hermon-Taylor has applied to the Broad Foundation for funding? As a philanthropic organisation with a particular interest in Crohn's, they actively look for and fund promising treatments. Since you are in email contact with Prof HT, maybe mention it to him?

Cheers
Helen
 
Hey Sir Clausin - we need to crowndsource this! Something like kickstarter, where we all pledge like $5000…we all raise that $5000 ourselves, if everyone on here could raise $5000 and pledge it - the people behind the vaccines production would have a financial figure they need, say $4million to actually get it happening…..$4million divided by 20, 000 crohns sufferers is only $200 each! I rekon anyone with crohns would happily pledge $200-$5000 for the potential…..they wouldnt take the money unless the vaccine was approved for human use. I think some people with crohns would happily sign a form saying 'yep, try me'…..people who are having fecal transplants, for example. COME ON - lets get the crohns community together and raise some $$$$$$$$$$$ for this vaccine.
 
Hey Sir Clausin - we need to crowndsource this! Something like kickstarter, where we all pledge like $5000…we all raise that $5000 ourselves, if everyone on here could raise $5000 and pledge it - the people behind the vaccines production would have a financial figure they need, say $4million to actually get it happening…..$4million divided by 20, 000 crohns sufferers is only $200 each! I rekon anyone with crohns would happily pledge $200-$5000 for the potential…..they wouldnt take the money unless the vaccine was approved for human use. I think some people with crohns would happily sign a form saying 'yep, try me'…..people who are having fecal transplants, for example. COME ON - lets get the crohns community together and raise some $$$$$$$$$$$ for this vaccine.
I wholeheartedly agree with this, what Crohn's sufferer would not be happy to donate, say, 10% of their income for a few years to get a cure? The serious question though is, how do you mobilise people to make this happen? If this forum is not the right place, let's get a group of people together on another social media platform and make it happen.
 
what does electrichead think?
It needs someone as the ringleader - someone to pull everyone together so there is one clear direction and strategy that involves media coverage and crowdsourcing (ie kickstarter or pozzible)….
straight up, the first thing that needs to happen is that the news in the this thread needs to be made into a concise document with the assistance of the professor and we need to make a press release to send to media. . . that press release needs some good photographs and quotes from doctors and sufferers.
Then we need to raise awareness of MAP within this crohns forum and every other crohns forum/newsletter/association/facebook page etc. . . with a link to the crowdsourcing website where people can donate.
Then we need to continue to promote that page and raise the funds.

Can someone explain the politics? The doctor states 'I think we hit political enemies.....as so often with this issue.' Who are the enemies in this situation?
 
I will speak with the professors daughter about this, I´ll skype her (Amy) in the coming week.

Let´s make this a reality! I would love to meet the professor and hear his thoughts.

PS. I remember bringing this up a loooong time ago with a doctor, and he said that "yeah well, we tried to go for the MAP-theory and treat for tuberculosis and that didn´t work". Can´t say I know how they tried, but my point being that I would like to speak to the doctor and see how the vaccine works and why he thinks it will "cure" all crohns sufferer.

Interesting times and may I say: FINALLY some real "medicine".
 
Map vaccine would be dream come true! I will be donating on pay day and writing to my MP and the BBC. The more attention drawn the better.
 
i saw my specialist yesterday and he said that they had done research on it and people with crohns had done 2 year courses with a three-pronged anti -biotic treatment, targetted towards the MAP bacteria, but it had not worked. I think his thoughts were 'yes you might have MAP in your gut but we dont think it causes crohns'….i want to know more.

Did the vaccine actually get rid of Joynes disease in cows?
 
i saw my specialist yesterday and he said that they had done research on it and people with crohns had done 2 year courses with a three-pronged anti -biotic treatment, targetted towards the MAP bacteria, but it had not worked. I think his thoughts were 'yes you might have MAP in your gut but we dont think it causes crohns'….i want to know more.

Did the vaccine actually get rid of Joynes disease in cows?
There were many problems with that trial, and in comparison to remicade and humira it still had a higher remission rate. There's a post on here about it.
 
thanks Joshua…i have contacted the people behind the vaccine but their website seems so dated!! I hope they write back……i am a believer in this MAP stuff….makes a lot of sense. Hope you are well at the moment.
 

kiny

Well-known member
It's very rare they test anything on cows with Johne's disease. Who is going to pay for that? It would be really interesting for example to see what infliximab does in a cow with Johne's disease, but no one has tested it, a cow is 5, 6 times the weight of a human? No one will pay for it.

Same reason why antibiotics are never used on cows with Johne's disease. There is plenty reason to use antibiotics because they infect the whole herd, but no one does it since it's not economically viable to use antibiotics on a huge animal like that. It is much cheaper to cull the animal instead, or turn it into a hamburger while no one is looking.

There have been many tests with bovine MAP, but they're in vitro tests.
 
IIRC the Daily Mail here in the UK has run stories about Crohn's before and, I think, mentioned the professor's work before. I bet there's a chance they'd run a story on this!

'Government Quango....'

Edit: What about Larry Smarr - he might be interested....
 
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electrichead, I wonder if Prof Hermon-Taylor has applied to the Broad Foundation for funding? As a philanthropic organisation with a particular interest in Crohn's, they actively look for and fund promising treatments. Since you are in email contact with Prof HT, maybe mention it to him?

Cheers
Helen
Hey Helen, I'll send him an email and ask him! Good thinking by the way.
 
Hey all, I informed my MP of the situation and within the week he has written a letter to Jeremy Hunt for the issue to be taken up in government in Westminster! Please everybody in the UK please please make your MP aware of the situation!!! If my letter comes to nothing they can't ignore it when everybody brings it up!!
 
The professor recently sent me the actual application they submitted to the board; it's extremely detailed (as you would imagine).
Some relevant facts from the application:
All Crohn's patients test positive for MAP (using Herman-Taylor's new diagnostic device).
The vaccine has been tested on MAP positive calves which reversed symptoms and MAP was not detected in autopsy.
 
Hi electrichead is it possible to make the application freely available for others. If the results are indeed as spectacular as they say I think it would be better to make some sort of a template that could be easily signed by anybody interested before being handed over.
 
Hi electrichead is it possible to make the application freely available for others. If the results are indeed as spectacular as they say I think it would be better to make some sort of a template that could be easily signed by anybody interested before being handed over.
Hey puphead I would love to but 1. I don't know how I would do that because its like 20 pages long and formatted such that all I can really do is read it and
2. I wouldn't want to risk copyright infringement, hence the information isn't a direct quote but a re-wording if whats written.
I'll ask JHT if there is some way though!
 
I have been in touch with the Professor. I asked him if I could share his email. He said YES>….SO here it is…and I made some comments below it.

This is where we are.
1. We have a modern T-cell vaccine which worked in mice and has given us fantastic anti-MAP action in cattle with no apparant side effects lasting as long as we had funds/time to go on testing (44 weeks) and reversing the dysregulation that MAP specifically imposes on the immune systems of both infected cattle and humans. Promises to be a game-changer in Crohn's disease (CD).
2. I have developed a practical clinical diagnostic for MAP in humans and am finalising this year the relevant clinical reagents.
It confirms all people with CD are MAP infected.
3. The UK gov TSB turned down our application for funding to 'GMP' manufacture the vaccine required for human use.
Don't know why. It was bloody good.

The vaccine.
The vehicle for getting the vaccine into the clinic where it belongs is a UK company HAV Vaccines Ltd No.6962730 (HVL) which
has obtained and owns all the patents running out to Jan 2027.
We are out there looking for the funding again.
Got several leads....nothing concrete yet. Big Pharma not interested until after the first human trials.
Getting the 2 components of the vaccine made to do these costs UK£1.2 million and £500,000.
In the present model the cost of the whole project with completion of approved Phase I and Phase IIa Clinical trials as a new treatment for CD is UK£4 million.
We have been trying for 4 years to get this from any source and have learned it is just too much for private investors.
We have a meeting with our collaborators at the Jenner Vaccine Inst Oxford University on Feb 20th.
We think we can get this figure down to not > £2.2 million doing it our way but within the regulations.
We also think this would be achievable from private investors say 22 each doing a £100K purchase of stock.
44 HNW CD families each investing £50K....yes....but more than that may get difficult to manage.
Crowd funding ? Could take a long time to get to that done ? Would probably need to have a CD Vaccine Trust set up to receive donations
independently which then invests. Returns go back to the Trust for use as determined by the Trustees (not us) but to further
the treatment and prevention of diseases caused by MAP (probably a large chunk of the IBS too...attached with... another paper worth a look).

The new MAP Test
Companion diagnostic for the vaccine. v good v important. Shows who needs to be treated and how they respond. Will go into HVL.
Currently in the final stage development here by me and 1 v. good lab worker (who has been on a building site for 3 months with the work
stopped as the funding had run out. Just back yesterday thanks to a $50K donation from the father of a 13yr CD daughter in the US, and my own lovely daughter running in a marathon collected £10K). 3 grant applications in 2012/3 rejected by 'peer review' essentially as the gastros think it is all rubbish.
Funding has to be independent. What does it need?
About £80K to get all the reagents done, validated and ready to go clinical...10 months.
Clinical validation £300K over 2 years running parallel with the vaccine so it does not take more time.


What I have proposed to the professor is to start a crowd-sourcing kickstarter esq fundraising effort regarding his MAP diagnostic. Currently you cannot get accurately tested for the MAP bacteria. The professor has a method to clinically test for it, but he needs funding to make it affordable/streamlined for the publics accessibility. The QUESTION i ask to the members of this forum is this
- If you could get a test done which says you have a rampant MAP infection in your gut, would you then be interested in investing in the vaccine? and How much would you pledge to have the test done in the first place?
 
My son's biopsies have often shown epitheloid granulomas with necrosis and last year the doctors decided to do PCR reaction test and found some sort of mycobacterium. Then they tried to culture it but the result was negative. I still believe that with the right test they might have been able to diagnose MAP infection.

For Happy Poo Poo's question I would thus say definitely yes! And would be willing to pledge one month's salary or so, at least.
 
I would also pledge a month's salary. The amounts mentioned by Prof HT (£80k and £300k for the next stage) are achievable! I know of other people who have children and grandchildren with Crohn's who would definitely be interested in making a pledge.
 
I saw this ...

I really hope this is the truth, I can´t stand this disease any longer, I am loosing my job, family over it.
 
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Yes, I wouldn't be able to give much but would be more than happy to give a donation. I want my happy healthy husband back.
 
very good everyone!!!
the next step here is to start this crowd sourcing campaign!
I have been communicating with professor hermon-taylor and any relevant communication I will put on here, for now - but i hope soon we will be able to point people to a page with a short video and information about his work - with easy steps in place to contribute towards his mission for the MAP vaccine.
cheers
 
Morning!

I am going to speak with Amy today, the professors daughter, over the phone. I am all in for this. Do you guys have any specific questions that I could bring with me?
 
Just quick thoughts:
- the vaccine for cows: state-of-play? is it completely ready?
- the test to find MAP bacteria: would it be possible for someone e.g. from this forum to have it done? If yes, how? (See Happy Poo Poo's earlier question: would you be ready to invest if the test showed that you have it?). The positive test result might attract more investors...
- have they applied for funding from the EU research programmes?
 
Hey guys!

Ok, so I spoke to Amy over the phone, the professors daughter, yesterday....very interesting indeed. I am joining the team to work for the vaccine to come out and spread the information.

Can everyone who is interested in helping out please pm me. I know happy poo poo have a dialog with John already. I asked about the crowdfunding btw. and eventhough they think its a good idea, Amy and John think it´s going to take too long. John is actually going to apply for foundings, can´t remember from where but he is.

It would be nice to talkt to those of you who wants to help over Skype to exchange ideas etc.
 
I have information that some clinical services can be offered in Mexico! It could more easy if we could arrange medical services in neutral zone!
 
In September 2013 RedHill initiated a first Phase III clinical trial with RHB-104 for Crohn’s Disease in North America and Israel. A second Phase III trial, in Europe, is planned to commence in the first half of 2014.

RedHill further acquired an exclusive license from the University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc. to a patent-protected diagnostic test for the detection of MAP (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) bacterium, and is developing the diagnostic test with Quest Diagnostics.

http://www.redhillbio.com/product-pipeline/rhb-104/
 
240 subjects will be randomized into the MAP US Study across up to 50 sites in the U.S., Canada and Israel. The primary endpoint for this study is the state of remission at week 26 in subjects randomized to receive RHB-104, as compared to subjects randomized to receive placebo. Secondary and exploratory endpoints will include, among others, state of response at 26 weeks, maintenance of remission through week 52 and efficacy outcome measures in relation to presence of MAP (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) bacterial infection. The study is exploratory with respect to the clinical validation of the Company's proprietary Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) assay used to detect MAP, the initial development of which was recently completed by Quest Diagnostics. An appropriate regulatory path for the validation and approval of the assay is currently being explored by the Company.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100358771/Re..._on_RHB104_for_Treatment_of_Crohn039s_Disease
 
In September 2013 RedHill initiated a first Phase III clinical trial with RHB-104 for Crohn’s Disease in North America and Israel. A second Phase III trial, in Europe, is planned to commence in the first half of 2014.

RedHill further acquired an exclusive license from the University of Central Florida Research Foundation, Inc. to a patent-protected diagnostic test for the detection of MAP (Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis) bacterium, and is developing the diagnostic test with Quest Diagnostics.

http://www.redhillbio.com/product-pipeline/rhb-104/
So there is a test for it, and a vaccine, different sides of the coin?
 
as I was posted for the 1 phase of the clinical trial ( on the people) you need about 10 -20 volunteers. But we need the criteria like age, etc. and restriction
 
So there is a test for it, and a vaccine, different sides of the coin?
RedHill have their own treatment aimed at MAP as well, it's the 3 pronged antibiotic treatment created by Dr Borody that you may have heard of. i was unaware of the RedHill diagnostic test though, it'd be interesting to know how it compares to the one being created by Dr Hermon-Taylor.

It seems RedHill is doing better in the way of funding etc though. It's really frustrating watching this all unfold - in a way I wish i wasn't even aware of all of this research, knowing that there are treatments in the process of being developed but having no access to them is useless to me right now. Even if they work, it will be years before we can have access to them.
 
Have you heard of the online sites where you can sign up to be a trial? Kind of scary, but a great thing if you are suffering and this could save you.
 
I got a reply from my Prof:

Me: This story (MAP vaccine) appeared in the press recently and is getting a lot of attention from Crohn’s sufferers in on-line forums. I believe I have spoken to you before about whether you thought MAP was the root cause of Crohn’s and you said no. Is that still your view?

Prof: Thanks. My view is unchanged (as is that of most other gastroenterologists), but would be more easily amplified by talking than by typing! If you'd like to give me a ring, I'd be happy to have a chat tomorrow. What we need to see are the results of a clinical trial......
 
Some people have MAP and dont get Crohns…….so, his vaccine works towards allowing someone with Crohns to get their immune system making the 'hunter cells' that can go and kill the MAP bacteria. People with crohns have an odd immune response to the bacteria i guess, while healthy people don't?
 
Some people have MAP and dont get Crohns…….so, his vaccine works towards allowing someone with Crohns to get their immune system making the 'hunter cells' that can go and kill the MAP bacteria. People with crohns have an odd immune response to the bacteria i guess, while healthy people don't?

No, according to Herman-Taylors new test ALL people with Crohns are infected with MAP. Previous tests just weren't effective enough. MAP is a difficult bacterium to test/cultivate.
 

kiny

Well-known member
The rational behind selective susceptibility comes from the immune deficiency present in people with crohn's disease. "We" have considerable deficiencies of the innate immune system which would leave us vulnerable to intracellular pathogens.

Healthy people have no issues clearing MAP from macrophages, people with crohn's disease do:
https://www.ecco-ibd.eu/publications/congress-abstract-s/abstracts-2013/item/p045-mycobacterium-avium-subsp-paratuberculosis-survival-in-macrophages-from-inflammatory-bowel-disease-patients-2.html

(doesn't mean MAP is therefore directly involved in the disease, they find more MAP in some (not all) ppl with CD, and the reason is probably because people with CD have issues clearing the bacteria)

Personally I don't think everyone with CD would have a MAP infection, simply because people with immune deficiencies tend to not all get the same infections. HIV patients are very susceptible to multiple different mycobacteria for example (interestingly, they have low rates of crohn's disease). I did get tested for MAP specifically with a DNA test and culture (which takes months and multiple reading over a time period of 3 then 6 months, then a year), which both turned out negative, but as ppl mentioned, tests are not accurate, and testing blood isn't as ideal as being able to test tissue.

The interest in MAP is justified I feel, because:
A: it's in the human food chain
B: it causes disease in many animals, including non-human primates
C: it's a mycobacteria and almost all mycobacteria cause disease
 
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The interest in MAP is justified I feel, because:
A: it's in the human food chain
B: it causes disease in many animals, including non-human primates
C: it's a mycobacteria and almost all mycobacteria cause disease
One question that I have not been able to find an answer to. How was the relationship between MAP and Johne's disease established in cattle and other animals and why is it apparently more difficult to establish the relationship between MAP and Crohns (if there is one) in humans?
 

kiny

Well-known member
One question that I have not been able to find an answer to. How was the relationship between MAP and Johne's disease established in cattle and other animals and why is it apparently more difficult to establish the relationship between MAP and Crohns (if there is one) in humans?
In cattle it affects the whole herd, the cow's feces is filled with MAP, when calves are born then tend to come into contact with feces, which is how they keep reinfecting each other. It is easy to find a pattern in a herd.

The reason farmers don't like MAP, is not because it's a potential human health threat, it wipes out their herd.

You're also only looking for one species in cows, bovine MAP. What MAP's role is in humans isn't clear, there is a relationship between E Coli and MAP too and while MAP in humans is similar to bovine MAP, it's harder to test humans, you can't test soil, you might have a disseminated bacteria, not readily found in feces like in cows, etc.

It's also a money issue, cows cost money, farmers don't want to lose their cow, there are a ton of labs that can test cows for MAP....humans are just well...humans. One more person with crohn's disease or less, doesn't bother the farmer's industry.

The farmer's industry has been incredibly unsympathetic to people with crohn's disese, they know full well there is a chance MAP is involved in crohn's disesase, and they do everything they can to keep a lid on it.
 
the good news is that Dr Hermon-Taylor has developed a clinical diagnostic test that can test people for MAP. He just needs funding. You can pledge and donate if you google his daughters justgiving webpage called 'run for crohns' …she is a doctor herself and she is running the London Marathon on April 13th to raise money for the MAP diagnostic test.
 
I can't understand why large drug companies aren't snapping this up. Makes me think the research or vaccine or something is flawed.
 
It might have something to do with the fact that if it works, it will cure Crohn's disease. It is two vaccines only-not a lifelong treatment that you have to keep taking in order to be well (such as Remicade, Humira, etc.) So how much profit can be made from two injections per person with Crohn's? I would imagine drug companies may consider it is not worth the gamble and the expense of the trials. Scientists and researchers are interested in what works, drug companies are interested in how many units of a particular drug they can sell (and please excuse my cynicism:smile:)
 
Our family made a donation to Dr. Hermon-Taylor. We feel his work deserves funding to completion and has been denied funding due to pressure from the beef, milk, and pharmaceutical industries.
 
It might have something to do with the fact that if it works, it will cure Crohn's disease. It is two vaccines only-not a lifelong treatment that you have to keep taking in order to be well (such as Remicade, Humira, etc.) So how much profit can be made from two injections per person with Crohn's? I would imagine drug companies may consider it is not worth the gamble and the expense of the trials. Scientists and researchers are interested in what works, drug companies are interested in how many units of a particular drug they can sell (and please excuse my cynicism:smile:)
If that is an accurate view of how drug companies really operate (and I cannot comment as I do not have any direct experience) then there clearly is a huge need for crowd sourced funding where the driving force is improving people's health, not profits.
 
I can't understand why large drug companies aren't snapping this up. Makes me think the research or vaccine or something is flawed.
It's not the views of the drug companies that make me question whether this research is flawed but the majority of gastroenterologists who do not think it is correct. Obviously it is quite possible with significant breakthroughs for there to be a lone voice standing against the majority. I really do hope Prof Hermon-Taylor is correct mostly because I do not see any other theory or cure being proposed that will come to fruition in the next few years.

I asked Prof Hermon-Taylor a few direct questions:
  • Why is there scepticism in the medical profession that MAP is the cause of Crohns?
  • And why have your requests for funding been rejected?

Here are his answers:
1. Why the scepticism ?
A mixture of reasons from 'there always is'....to the main problem (to date) of there not being a simple
clinical test for MAP in humans. Existing tests are complex and depend critically on the methods used to extract MAP DNA.
If they are not done correctly you get a false negative, conflicting data, controversy and confusion.
Failure to understand the complexity of MAP and how it so often does the opposite of what would be expected.

2. Peer review.....'opinion leaders' who are unaware of the strength of the positive evidence from multiple sources.

Even so we got BBSRC support after nearly a year's scrutiny, for a 3 year trial of the vaccine in cattle finishing in spring 2013..
The vaccine gave stunning results with no side effects....clearing MAP from blood, abolish faecal shedding, cleaned up the gut....
If it does the same in CD (highly likely) it will turn it on its head. The vaccine would not exist but for the Crohn's community.
 
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