Description of therapy

Treatment options: Autoimmune Therapies treats patients using necator americanus (hookworm). Currently they offer two options for treatment.

Their standard protocol involves treating qualifying patients with up to 50 L3 (infectious) necator americanus larvae in one dose, applied to the skin.

The other treatment option is multi-stage therapy, in which patients are inoculated using smaller individual doses of necator larvae, given in three separate doses spread out over ten weeks.

By adopting multi-stage therapy the company claims that patients minimize or eliminate the uncomfortable side-effects that are possible when taking a single dose of 50. Further, by spreading out inoculation over three stages and ten weeks patients can increase their total dose of larvae to improve their chances of benefit or complete remission. The maximum dose is set in consultation between the patient and the clinic.

Cost: Single dose protocol costs $3,900.00 plus travel to clinic, etc.

        Mutli-stage therapy costs $7,800.00 plus travel to clinic, etc.

Side-effects: The company says that in their experience side-effects are impossible to predict for any individual but may include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, flatus, epigastric pain and a topical rash at the site of inoculation. The company claims that these symptoms are transient, persisting no more than eight weeks and usually for about a month. Onset of abdominal side-effects typically occurs at day seven or eight post-inoculation and can persist for up to eight weeks. The company reports that no patients have as yet terminated therapy due to side-effects.

Possible side-effects: There has been some research demonstrating that hookworm infection, which results in down modulation of the immune system, makes hosts more susceptible to infectious disease. This is typical of all therapies that down regulate the immune system. It is therefore possible that it also therefore makes hosts more likely to develop certain cancers.

Remission rates: The company says that there is too little data upon which to make any exact predictions for any disease. However the TSO and hookworm studies for Crohn’s disease showed remission rates of 72.4% and 100% respectively, although the hookworm study was just a proof-of-concept and should not be taken as indicative of remission rates. For ulcerative colitis the only source of information is the TSO study for which the remission rate was 56%. For asthma and allergies no real data exists for efficacy, although the risk of wheeze in one Nottingham study was reduced by 66% if hookworm infection was present in the Ethiopian population examined. The company claims that both asthma and allergies seem to respond fastest to this therapy with patients reporting improvement or remission as quickly as week eight or week nine post-inoculation. The company has been treating patients since September of 2007 so there is no information available on success rates.

How long?: Therapy must continue for the lifetime of the patient, or the lifetime of the disease as this is remission, not cure. Hookworm live on average of 5 years, with the usual range being from 3 to 7. But cases have been reported of up to 15 and 18 years.

The company claims that most cases of allergies will show improvement by week 8 post inoculation, with asthma showing improvement by week 12. Multiple Sclerosis patients have reported improvements in as few as 8 weeks but the company makes no claims regarding when Multiple Sclerosis patients can expect to see an improvement citing the lack of research. Crohn’s and Ulcerative Colitis patients have to wait 45 weeks to reach remission according to the proof-of-concept study, seeing an improvement in their condition starting in weeks 18-20.

Obtaining treatment: Patients must travel to their clinic in Tijuana, Mexico for treatment. After arrival they are given a full medical exam, a medical history is taken and blood is drawn to test for anemia. Treatment will be refused in cases of cancer, pregnancy, moderate to severe anemia and moderate to severe stenosis of the intestine. If a patient has moderate to severe stenosis they have the option of taking ten larvae in one dose or using the multi-stage treatment protocol to obtain a higher dose over three visits to the clinic over the course of ten weeks. Using this approach there is no danger of inflammation of the intestine making treatment of those with intestines partially occluded by stenosis possible.

If a patient passes the tests they are inoculated with up to fifty larvae by placing them on the skin of the patient using a bandage. The bandage must remain in place for 24 hours.

Contact information

pretreatment@autoimmunetherapies.com

Autoimmune Therapies website

Forum: link

Ovamed

Description of therapy

Treatment options: Ovamed treats patients using Trichuris Suis Ova (TSO), or more prosaically pig whipworm eggs. They offer four formulations available with a prescription for import from their facilities in Thailand.

The four formulations and prices, as of January 2008 are:

Dose            Unit cost        Annual cost

TSO300       80.00 €        2080 €

TSO500       150.00 €      3900 €

TSO1000     220.00 €      5720 €

TSO2500     300.00 €      7800 €

Each formulation number refers to the number of Ova contained in suspension. Patients drink the medicine, usually with some nice drink to make it more palatable. The standard protocol calls for a dose every two weeks. You can use a currency converter here to find the current cost in dollars or pounds, or any other currency. As of early 2008 the cost of annual treatment at the TSO2500 level is $11,490.00

The only dose researched out of the four and shown scientifically to work is TSO2500, although there are reports of lower doses working, particularly after a period of time at higher doses. Meaning the lower doses are often used as maintenance doses. Some patients are able to achieve remission and maintain it using TSO alone, but others have to keep using at least a reduced level of their traditional medicine to see an improvement or remission. It must be noted also that according to the Ovamed message boards some patients require higher doses to see results, dosing once a week for instance using TSO2500.

Not included in the above costs are the requirement to obtain a doctor’s prescription, which while not expensive, can prove difficult.

Side-effects: The company reports no side effects, but there have been some reports of the worms reaching adulthood in a juvenile patient and of mis migration of worms after hatching. This mis migration involved worms perforating the intestine. However these reports are very rare and the therapy appears safe, particularly when compared to the side effects found with use of prednisone or the modern biologicals like Humira, etc. As with hookworm, this is a therapy that down regulates a portion of the immune system. It is therefore possible that it also makes hosts more likely to develop certain cancers or to be more susceptible to some infectious diseases. This has to be tempered however by the knowledge that those suffering from allergy are more resistant to some cancers and infectious disease, so that TSO and hookworm probably only make patients as susceptible to cancer and infection as the general population.

Remission rates: TSO is fairly well researched. TSO studies for Crohn’s disease showed remission rates of 72.4%. Ulcerative colitis has a remission rate of 56% using TSO. For asthma and allergies no real data exists for efficacy, but studies are underway for these diseases as well as MS. Remission in Crohn’s patients occurred using the TSO2500 dosing level at 24 weeks after start. Multiple Sclerosis was studied for helminths in general by Correale and Farez, see abstract of paper here.

How long?: Therapy must continue for the lifetime of the patient, or the lifetime of the disease as this is remission, not cure. TSO must be taken once every two weeks minimum.

Obtaining treatment: Patients have to obtain a doctor’s prescription and order the medicine from Biomonde in Thailand. Biomonde appear to be the manufacturing and distribution partner or subsidiary of Ovamed. Their websites are nearly identical which suggests that their ownership is the same. The company recommends that patients remain under the care and supervision of their physician for the duration of their treatment with TSO.

Contact information

Ovamed contact page (the site is framed, follow this link and click on the Contact link at the bottom of the main nav on the left)

Ovamed website site requires Flash. You can access the Ovamed forums which they host by following this link and clicking on Forums about mid page on the left nav.

Worm Therapy Site