Of course today, histamine is a none patentable drug and no major drug company would put out the kind of money required to perform the proper research. The person who developed Prokarin ( in essence histamine) didn't even know Jonez existed until she went to get a patent on Prokarin and discovered his work.
Unless a drug is part of the mainstream MS world and is supported by a big pharma, there is no chance at all of anything else catching on in a big way. Just look at what has happened to LDN in the past few years.
Couldn't agree more, Harry. The bottom line is always money, isn't it, and I feel that governments should play a more active role in funding research that isn't generally "profitable" for private companies. If they could only broaden their thinking. Although a national government couldn't profit from the sales of drugs, eradicating a disease like MS would pay an enormous dividend to a society, which would amount to the same thing.
To the cold eye of civil servants, some of us probably amount to little more than red numbers on the spreadsheet of life, (despite the fact that we are far more than that), because we are seen as a, "drain on resources". Even if they are not thinking about our well being, surely the figures should convince them to pay for some less lucrative research?
By the way, Bob, you're right -- I have to beat admirers off with a stick and I have to discourage the thousands of people who would otherwise send me a Valentine's card... my poor postman has a bad back, you know!
Dom.
[EDIT] Another list of things which compromise the BBB, this time from a CFS website:
NLM Citation: PMID: 11461179
Despite volumes of international research, the etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) remains elusive. There is, however, considerable evidence that CFS is a disorder involving the central nervous system (CNS). It is our hypothesis that altered permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) may contribute to ongoing signs and symptoms found in CFS.
To support this hypothesis we have examined agents that can increase the blood-brain barrier permeability (BBBP) and those that may be involved in CFS.
The factors which can compromise the normal BBBP in CFS include viruses, cytokines, 5-hydroxytryptamine, peroxynitrite, nitric oxide, stress, glutathione depletion, essential fatty acid deficiency, and N-methyl-D-aspartate overactivity