Biotech Values

[woofer]

While I've been looking for the answer to the quiz, I came upon this note from a male participating in Phase 3 of the Telapavir trials. I figured that it's worth reading......

http://lloydwright.org/Hepatitis/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=310&Itemid=65
From: Jeff B
Sent: Tuesday, August 26, 2008 4:02 PM
To: Lloyd
Subject: LloydsHepCMessages: Stopped telapavir, INF & RVN after 18 days. Had
a heart attack

This is an enquiry e-mail via http://lloydwright.org/Hepatitis from: Jeff B

I entered a phase 3 drug trial for Telaprevir that lasted 18 days before I quit taking the 3 drugs; Interferon alfa-2a, Ribavirin and Telaprevir. The main reason that I quit was because I had a heart attack that lasted about 5 seconds on the 17th day of the trial. Today I read that Telaprevir and Interferon and cause this.

During the 18 days of treatment, I had ringing in my ears and buzzing in my head along with the usual restless sleep, stomach-abdominal aches and itching. Thinking, studying and concentration were not possible. These powerful drugs did alter the course of my HCV infection. It has been 4
days since my last doses of Ribavirin and Telaprevir and a week since my last Interferon injection. My brain has recovered about 90-95% from the drugs. During my 18 day trial, I was eating fish 4 times a week. I could tell that it helped my brain to recover from the drugs.

In 22 weeks, test results will be published. Then I will know how far the Viral load fell during my short trial.

I want to know if anyone has evaluated the short and long term effects on the brain with a pet scan or other analysis tools during Interferon-Ribavirin therapy?

I asked the research people at Cedars-Sinai about such testing but they had no information.
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Note: There's more in the link.