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Hemispherx Links Stanford's ME/CFS Diagnostic to a Potential Path Forward for Ampligen Commercialization
[May 06, 2019]

Hemispherx Links Stanford's ME/CFS Diagnostic to a Potential Path Forward for Ampligen Commercialization


OCALA, Fla., May 06, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma Inc., (NYSE American: HEB), an immuno-pharma company focused on the research and development of therapeutics to treat multiple types of cancers and immune-deficiency diseases — and whose product portfolio includes Ampligen, commercially approved in Argentina, as the world’s only approved therapeutic for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) — announced today that the impressive results from a blood-based, real-time diagnostic test out of Stanford University demonstrates an ability to identify moderate to severe ME/CFS patients from normal controls. Currently ME/CFS is a disease of exclusion from other diseases, which manifest similar signs and symptoms with no specific ME/CFS laboratory diagnostic assay to aid the physician in a definitive diagnosis.

While Hemispherx is currently focused on Ampligen in the treatment of cancer, for which there are multiple ongoing trials, regulatory approval of Ampligen in the treatment of ME/CFS in the United States is also a corporate goal. Profound fatigue is a universal symptom of severe ME/CFS and its quantitative documentation is a challenge. A functional ME/CFS diagnostic may remove this obstacle. Using blood samples from twenty patients with ME/CFS versus twenty normal controls, Stanford researchers were able to identify which samples came from people with ME/CFS by measuring the electrical impedance of the patient’s immune cells and plasma when osmotically stressed through exposure to high salt concentrations. The research was recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/04/24/1901274116

“This is a potentially landmark study on two fronts,” said Thomas K. Equels, CEO of Hemispherx. “First, ME/CFS has been thought of by many as a psychological disorder without a physical basis, leaving ME/CFS sufferers with the pain of the disease and a sense of hopelessness. This diagnostic creates a new paradigm of hope for therapy for those with the disease. Second, a vaidated blood-based method to diagnose ME/CFS would have a profound impact on how it is studied and treated by clearly identifying whether a subject has the disease. We look forward to the day when we can incorporate such a diagnostic platform into our own clinical testing for ME/CFS. We have the only late-stage drug candidate in the FDA pipeline and have been asked to do a confirmatory clinical trial. If properly validated with larger numbers of subjects, a blood-based diagnostic for ME/CFS should help in achieving regulatory approval.”



In the United States, Hemispherx sponsors an Expanded Access Program (EAP), known as AMP-511, in which the FDA has authorized use of Ampligen in ME/CFS patients in an effort to expand compassionate care in the absence of commercially approved therapy.

Stanford’s Ron Davis, PhD, professor of biochemistry and of genetics and one of the study’s authors, emphasized the importance of a reliable diagnostic platform for ME/CFS in a statement accompanying the journal article, stating “…there is scientific evidence that this disease is not a fabrication of a patient’s mind. We clearly see a difference in the way healthy and chronic fatigue syndrome immune cells process stress.”


Read the full statement: https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2019/04/biomarker-for-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-identified.html.

About Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating disease that lacks a universally accepted case definition, cause, diagnosis, or treatment. Patients with ME/CFS suffer from pain and lethargy, and in the severest cases the disease can take them from their workplaces and their families, leaving them bedridden. ME/CFS strikes people of all ages and racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups, and is diagnosed two to four times more often in women.

About Hemispherx Biopharma

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is an immuno-pharma company focused on the research and development of therapeutics to treat multiple types of cancers. Hemispherx's flagship products include the Argentina-approved drug rintatolimod (trade names Ampligen® or Rintamod®) and the FDA-approved drug Alferon N Injection®. Based on results of published, peer-reviewed pre-clinical studies and clinical trials, Hemispherx believes that Ampligen® may have broad-spectrum anti-viral and anti-cancer properties. Clinical trials of Ampligen® already conducted include studies of the potential treatment of cancer patients with renal cell carcinoma and malignant melanoma. These and other potential uses will require additional clinical trials to generate the safety and effectiveness data necessary to support regulatory approval and additional funding. Rintatolimod is a double-stranded RNA being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders of the immune system.

Cautionary Statement

Some of the statements included in this press release may be forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among other things, for those statements, we claim the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements set forth in this press release speak only as of the date of this press release. We do not undertake to update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that occur after the date hereof. The Stanford diagnostic test is at an early developmental stage and may never be approved as a diagnostic test for ME/CFS. This press release and prior releases are available at www.hemispherx.net. The information found on our website is not incorporated by reference into this press release and is included for reference purposes only.

Contacts:

Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc.
Phone: 800-778-4042
Email: [email protected]

Or

LHA Investor Relations
Miriam Weber Miller
Senior Vice President
Phone: +1-212-838-3777
Email: [email protected]

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