The US Action Working Group (USAWG) is submitting a letter to NINDS director Walter Koroshetz detailing a list of requests relating to patient participation, extramural funding and the intramural research agenda. You can read that list of requests here. All USAWG actions are opt-in. We would like to poll active #MEAction members who are American citizens or residents
‘Chronic fatigue syndrome chronically underfunded’, Australian community radio current affairs program.
How should patients be integrated into the NIH process? The US National Institutes of Health has made several promising, public steps forward in recent months, announcing a new commitment to research ME/CFS, hinting at possible new drug trials, and promising to use strict criteria including the Canadian Consensus Criteria to select patients for their intramural studies. Yet
What is the role of outrage in activism? “Anger is justified but, anger can be used against you. Anger can be misplaced or anger can be the flame that fuels the kind of passion that brings about great change.”
Over the weekend we wrote to NIH to share our article about Brian Walitt, along with comments from the community. We have received an initial response, but expect there will be more responses forthcoming that directly address patients’ concerns. The NIH also said they are finalizing a communications plan on the study so that communications
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a $246,000 grant to study the use of an oral solution of isotonic saline to reduce orthostatic intolerance (OI) in ME/CFS patients. The grant has been awarded to New York Medical College’s Professor Marvin Medow, who has long had an interest in OI in ME/CFS, particularly
Jennie Spotila Reports on NIH ME/CFS Spending in 2015 Jennie Spotila has written another detailed analysis on NIH spending on ME/CFS research. On a positive note, spending on ME/CFS grants increased to $6,470,000 in 2015, which was a 20% increase over fiscal year 2014 and, “for the first time since at least 2009, there were no
At Tuesday’s CDC Grand Rounds Wilhelmina Jenkins, a long-time ME/CFS advocate, asked Dr. Avindra Nath, the PI of the NIH intramural study, a question about the planned Patient Advisory Committee mentioned in his presentation and about RFAs. We thought patients and allies may find a video and transcript of the question and Dr Nath’s response
ME/CFS is going to be the topic for CDC’s monthly Grand Rounds this Tuesday at 1 pm ET. The title of the session is “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Advancing Research and Clinical Education.” The presenters will be Anthony Komaroff (Harvard Medical Center), Elizabeth Unger (Chief of CDC’s Chronic Viral Diseases Branch), Charles Lapp (Hunter-Hopkins Center, P.A.), and Avindra
Over the weekend, members of the US Action Working Group (USAWG) were alerted to the publication of the National Institutes of Health’s study protocol (as posted originally). The content of the published protocol caused a number of concerns across the community, chief among them that the Reeves criteria were apparently being used as the basis for selecting
