Questions
Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 6:12 pm
Hi to all,
I have spent the afternoon getting some information that I didn’t have. I will start with the last comments that I saw this morning and work my way up. I don’t type very fast and there are a few questions and comments that I want to answer.
I did go to my exercise class and I hope that all MSers try to do some sort of exercise. When I started Tovaxin, my parents wheeled me down to Houston. I could still walk short distances, but not through a large airport. I had given up going out to the mall because of my staggered gait. I would have people come up to me and accuse me of being drunk. I still have a noticeable stagger, but it is not as bad and I can walk for a fairly long distance.
For the month of October 2005, I was the spotlight member at the wellness center that I go to. If you read the comments about me on my website, you would see that many of the things I do require people on both sides to prevent me from falling over. I am the only disabled person in the group, and I think they are determined to make me whole again. When I am in Houston for a checkup, I must promise to call at class time and let them know of any improvements I have had since my last visit. Today, for the first time, with a person on each side, I was trying to do heel-toe walking. They know this is something that the doctor makes me do and they are determined to see me improve. I will work at it, but it will be a while before I will be doing it without spotters.
My tremor has decreased to the point that I now wear tie shoes and a zipper coat. My parents bought me some 500-piece puzzles and some connects building blocks, suitable for ages 4 and up or someone with a tremor. I have been building things like the Doozers on Fraggle Rock. A show that I watched when I was a kid.
The entry from June 11, 2005 was the last entry that Dad has made. At that point he felt that his increased involvement with the company and my website had become a conflict of interest. From the current questions and reaction, he was correct, and it was a good decision for him to no longer participate. There was almost a two-month gap in entries and I was getting lots of email through the site asking if I was okay. So on August 1, 2005, my brother and I took over the site on the condition that my brothers became the narrators.
I am 16 months older than my twin brothers and we have always done lots of things together. All a long, most of the observation had been made by Tom. He was the one that first pointed out that I looked a little stiff coming down the stairs. That lead to my being diagnosed with MS. Up until 6/11/05, my father would take everyone’s observation and write my timeline. He was the narrator, even though the observations were made primarily by Tom. Dad’s observations were generally ones made in Houston, or ones from a parent’s point of view.
My father started a web company in 1996. He has since turned that over to Tom and Rob, but everything still remains in his name. It would be a lot of unnecessary work to reassign ownership of several hundred domains. New domains that my brothers register are still in my father’s name and probably always will be. The only domain that he still is actively involved with is http://www.TotallyFreeMath.com. He is currently loading 4 more books and all of the student and teacher resource materials for anyone to use for free, hence the name. The home page indicates why he is doing that. His email address is on the site, but if NHE checked to see who the registrant is, I don’t think you will find one. I only point that out because it is easy to cloak whom the registrant is if your intent was to fabricate a story and deceive the reader.
In the study that I am in, there are 15 people. I think that was discussed in the press release about the data presented at the International MS conference, but I didn’t look back at the article. A common comment that I see is why didn’t we hear from the other people in the study. Since I am new to all of this, and several years ago I did search the Internet to try to find personal account of people in FDA studies, I assume most people don’t share their experiences. Some may post on a blog, but that is hard to find unless you visit lots of blogs and read everything that is posted. I have only had 2 emails from each of the other participants. I would have thought that they would want to constantly be comparing notes with me. They didn’t even ask if I knew of anyone else in the study.
The website that flipflopper cited http://www.crystalra.com/pdf/PFTR-OB_EIO_11-21-05.pdf has a 60 page summary about the company. I have not read it, but I assume it contains any details about the company that you might be interested in. This was written before the Chinese deal, so that will not be in there.
I agree that it is too early for everyone to think that this is a cure. The study that I am in has had some very promising results. I have had no attacks in over 2 years, but the people in the Tysabri studies had some promising results only to see the drug pulled. If I had not gotten in the Tovaxin study, our second choice was Compath. That drug has recently been pulled from clinical trials.
I am glad that Brownsfan is not ready to dismiss how I have done. Since he works in finance, I assume he would agree that no “qualified” investor or fund would read my website and invest because I was doing okay. They have scientists that analyze the company’s product and make informed decisions. If Tovaxin gets fast-tracked, it might be out in 2009, but more likely in 2010. The company has no snake oil to sell you and unless one of your friends runs a biotech fund, no one reading this post could possibly invest in the company.
I am excited about what Tovaxin has done for me, but that could change tomorrow. I must admit that that excitement has made me get a little carried away in spreading the word. I am going to retire from posting after I answer your questions.
On August 30, 2005 my father was appointed to the board of directors of PharmaFrontiers. http://www.pharmafrontiers.net/board.php His bio outlines how I got in the study and his involvement to that point.
Terry Wesner
Mr. Wesner is a biostatistician and a [Chi Beta Phi] graduate of The University of Memphis with degrees in biology, mathematics, and statistics. His first position after graduate school was an appointment to the Faculty of Harvard School of Medicine as Director of Research for the National Diabetes Association. While a Faculty member at Harvard School of Medicine, Mr. Wesner researched gestational diabetics. Since then he has been a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, published a successful series of 30 college level mathematics textbooks with McGraw-Hill Publishers, and currently is CEO and Owner of Bernard J. Klein Publishing and GetMath Educational Software. Mr. Wesner brings a unique perspective to the Board as one of the Founding Investors in Opexa Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of PharmaFrontiers. Following a 16-month search of the journals, he chose Dr. Zhang's T-cell based therapeutic and technology platform as the experimental treatment for his son's Multiple Sclerosis. After having his son qualified by Dr. Zhang for the next FDA trial, he participated in the startup funding of a company to commercially develop Dr. Zhang's targeted T-cell elimination platform for autoimmune diseases. He also has been elected to the National Council of The Text and Academic Authors Association, his company has formed a partnership with World Vision to bring free educational materials to needy schools throughout the United States, served as Chair of his community's planning commission, founded and is now Vice-Chair of his community's building authority, serves on The Advisory Board for The Ann Arbor Academy a school for children with learning disabilities, and volunteers for various other community and civic organizations.
It was pointed out that my parents control 540,000 shares of company stock. I called Dad to find out what that meant. Currently they own approximately 210,000 shares out of 20,500,000 shares that have been issued, or about 1%. Some of the original investments in the company carried warrants. That is the ability to buy more shares at a fixed price. Next month, 10,500,000 warrants will expire. Some of those are my folks, and they will expire because the fixed share price is $2.00. Since the stock is currently selling at approximately 60 cents, these will not get exercised. In October another set of warrants priced at $2.90 probably will also expire. There is a third set priced at $5.00 four years from now. Those may or may not be in the money. If my parent exercised all of these warrants paying approximately $900,000, they would have 540,000 shares out of approximately 47,000,000 shares.
At my father’s insistence, I will be adding to my website the fact that he is on the board of directors and put a link to his bio. I should have this on the site by the end of the month. Sooner if my brothers are not too busy. I am saddened by the fact that I may have upset some people. MS is a terrible disease and you don’t need any up and down expectations of a new drug in the pipeline.
It looks like I have covered the questions that were raised earlier, but every answer generates two more questions. I will check back in.
Best regards, Tim
I have spent the afternoon getting some information that I didn’t have. I will start with the last comments that I saw this morning and work my way up. I don’t type very fast and there are a few questions and comments that I want to answer.
I did go to my exercise class and I hope that all MSers try to do some sort of exercise. When I started Tovaxin, my parents wheeled me down to Houston. I could still walk short distances, but not through a large airport. I had given up going out to the mall because of my staggered gait. I would have people come up to me and accuse me of being drunk. I still have a noticeable stagger, but it is not as bad and I can walk for a fairly long distance.
For the month of October 2005, I was the spotlight member at the wellness center that I go to. If you read the comments about me on my website, you would see that many of the things I do require people on both sides to prevent me from falling over. I am the only disabled person in the group, and I think they are determined to make me whole again. When I am in Houston for a checkup, I must promise to call at class time and let them know of any improvements I have had since my last visit. Today, for the first time, with a person on each side, I was trying to do heel-toe walking. They know this is something that the doctor makes me do and they are determined to see me improve. I will work at it, but it will be a while before I will be doing it without spotters.
My tremor has decreased to the point that I now wear tie shoes and a zipper coat. My parents bought me some 500-piece puzzles and some connects building blocks, suitable for ages 4 and up or someone with a tremor. I have been building things like the Doozers on Fraggle Rock. A show that I watched when I was a kid.
The entry from June 11, 2005 was the last entry that Dad has made. At that point he felt that his increased involvement with the company and my website had become a conflict of interest. From the current questions and reaction, he was correct, and it was a good decision for him to no longer participate. There was almost a two-month gap in entries and I was getting lots of email through the site asking if I was okay. So on August 1, 2005, my brother and I took over the site on the condition that my brothers became the narrators.
I am 16 months older than my twin brothers and we have always done lots of things together. All a long, most of the observation had been made by Tom. He was the one that first pointed out that I looked a little stiff coming down the stairs. That lead to my being diagnosed with MS. Up until 6/11/05, my father would take everyone’s observation and write my timeline. He was the narrator, even though the observations were made primarily by Tom. Dad’s observations were generally ones made in Houston, or ones from a parent’s point of view.
My father started a web company in 1996. He has since turned that over to Tom and Rob, but everything still remains in his name. It would be a lot of unnecessary work to reassign ownership of several hundred domains. New domains that my brothers register are still in my father’s name and probably always will be. The only domain that he still is actively involved with is http://www.TotallyFreeMath.com. He is currently loading 4 more books and all of the student and teacher resource materials for anyone to use for free, hence the name. The home page indicates why he is doing that. His email address is on the site, but if NHE checked to see who the registrant is, I don’t think you will find one. I only point that out because it is easy to cloak whom the registrant is if your intent was to fabricate a story and deceive the reader.
In the study that I am in, there are 15 people. I think that was discussed in the press release about the data presented at the International MS conference, but I didn’t look back at the article. A common comment that I see is why didn’t we hear from the other people in the study. Since I am new to all of this, and several years ago I did search the Internet to try to find personal account of people in FDA studies, I assume most people don’t share their experiences. Some may post on a blog, but that is hard to find unless you visit lots of blogs and read everything that is posted. I have only had 2 emails from each of the other participants. I would have thought that they would want to constantly be comparing notes with me. They didn’t even ask if I knew of anyone else in the study.
The website that flipflopper cited http://www.crystalra.com/pdf/PFTR-OB_EIO_11-21-05.pdf has a 60 page summary about the company. I have not read it, but I assume it contains any details about the company that you might be interested in. This was written before the Chinese deal, so that will not be in there.
I agree that it is too early for everyone to think that this is a cure. The study that I am in has had some very promising results. I have had no attacks in over 2 years, but the people in the Tysabri studies had some promising results only to see the drug pulled. If I had not gotten in the Tovaxin study, our second choice was Compath. That drug has recently been pulled from clinical trials.
I am glad that Brownsfan is not ready to dismiss how I have done. Since he works in finance, I assume he would agree that no “qualified” investor or fund would read my website and invest because I was doing okay. They have scientists that analyze the company’s product and make informed decisions. If Tovaxin gets fast-tracked, it might be out in 2009, but more likely in 2010. The company has no snake oil to sell you and unless one of your friends runs a biotech fund, no one reading this post could possibly invest in the company.
I am excited about what Tovaxin has done for me, but that could change tomorrow. I must admit that that excitement has made me get a little carried away in spreading the word. I am going to retire from posting after I answer your questions.
On August 30, 2005 my father was appointed to the board of directors of PharmaFrontiers. http://www.pharmafrontiers.net/board.php His bio outlines how I got in the study and his involvement to that point.
Terry Wesner
Mr. Wesner is a biostatistician and a [Chi Beta Phi] graduate of The University of Memphis with degrees in biology, mathematics, and statistics. His first position after graduate school was an appointment to the Faculty of Harvard School of Medicine as Director of Research for the National Diabetes Association. While a Faculty member at Harvard School of Medicine, Mr. Wesner researched gestational diabetics. Since then he has been a Professor of Mathematics and Statistics, published a successful series of 30 college level mathematics textbooks with McGraw-Hill Publishers, and currently is CEO and Owner of Bernard J. Klein Publishing and GetMath Educational Software. Mr. Wesner brings a unique perspective to the Board as one of the Founding Investors in Opexa Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of PharmaFrontiers. Following a 16-month search of the journals, he chose Dr. Zhang's T-cell based therapeutic and technology platform as the experimental treatment for his son's Multiple Sclerosis. After having his son qualified by Dr. Zhang for the next FDA trial, he participated in the startup funding of a company to commercially develop Dr. Zhang's targeted T-cell elimination platform for autoimmune diseases. He also has been elected to the National Council of The Text and Academic Authors Association, his company has formed a partnership with World Vision to bring free educational materials to needy schools throughout the United States, served as Chair of his community's planning commission, founded and is now Vice-Chair of his community's building authority, serves on The Advisory Board for The Ann Arbor Academy a school for children with learning disabilities, and volunteers for various other community and civic organizations.
It was pointed out that my parents control 540,000 shares of company stock. I called Dad to find out what that meant. Currently they own approximately 210,000 shares out of 20,500,000 shares that have been issued, or about 1%. Some of the original investments in the company carried warrants. That is the ability to buy more shares at a fixed price. Next month, 10,500,000 warrants will expire. Some of those are my folks, and they will expire because the fixed share price is $2.00. Since the stock is currently selling at approximately 60 cents, these will not get exercised. In October another set of warrants priced at $2.90 probably will also expire. There is a third set priced at $5.00 four years from now. Those may or may not be in the money. If my parent exercised all of these warrants paying approximately $900,000, they would have 540,000 shares out of approximately 47,000,000 shares.
At my father’s insistence, I will be adding to my website the fact that he is on the board of directors and put a link to his bio. I should have this on the site by the end of the month. Sooner if my brothers are not too busy. I am saddened by the fact that I may have upset some people. MS is a terrible disease and you don’t need any up and down expectations of a new drug in the pipeline.
It looks like I have covered the questions that were raised earlier, but every answer generates two more questions. I will check back in.
Best regards, Tim
