TAKE ACTION! Denounce Dr. Shorter Speaking at the NIH

Professor Shorter's invitation to speak at the NIH is a travesty.

Would a prestigious national institution invite a Holocaust denier to speak about World World II, or a member of the KKK to speak about race relations?

We can't know what they were thinking when the NIH extended their invitation to Dr. Shorter, who is certainly no expert on any aspect of ME/CFS. But we do know that inviting a man who is so outspoken in his absolute denial of the disease reflects very poorly on the attitudes of the institution that recently pledged to take ME/CFS "very seriously."

You can read more about Dr. Shorter's invitation as well as his disparagement of ME/CFS patients HERE. 

Dr. Shorter is scheduled to speak on November 9. Please send a letter to your representative today.


________________________

I sent this little note to Dr. Collins:

To: collinsf@mail.nih.gov

Dear Dr. Collins,

I am sure you realize by now that the response to your invitation to have Dr. Shorter speak at the NIH has been less than positive.

Dr. Shorter is a crank. He has no expertise in ME/CFS - of any kind - and has made a reputation for himself by making outrageous statements worthy of the National Enquirer. The fact that he has published a book on the subject does not qualify him to speak as an expert. (I have published two books of more merit than his, and yet I do not recall receiving an invitation from you.)

In case you do not remember, you made a promise to take ME/CFS "very seriously." You asked the ME/CFS community to bear with you as you "ramped up" ME/CFS research. (We are still waiting for the ramping up.) Is being called "hysterics," "whiners," and "complainers" one of the things we must bear? Would you ask the same of patients with Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, or cancer?

What you have done is let a fox into the hen house. You have also done irreparable harm to the good will you built by appearing to offer a helping hand to patients who have suffered the ravages of this disease, and then dashing our hopes with this crude gesture of contempt.

Yours,

Erica Verrillo, author, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide

______________________________

From Solve ME/CFS Initiative

BREAKING NEWS: Last week, deeply troubling information was discovered on an archived National Institutes of Health (NIH) webpage. A lecture titled “Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Historical Perspective” is scheduled for Wednesday, November 9, to be presented by the controversial and inflammatory history professor Edward Shorter, PhD.

A professor of psychiatry and history at the University of Toronto, Shorter is an outspoken skeptic about the biological nature of ME/CFS. He has referred to the disease as both a “psychodrama” and a “psychic epidemic” and called the findings of the Institute of Medicine’s report on ME/CFS last year “junk science.”

Read more about this announcement here: http://solvecfs.org/disparaged-speaker-to-present-at-nih-next-week/.

The Solve ME/CFS Initiative is formally protesting the inclusion of Dr. Shorter as a speaker and writing to the NIH to ask them to provide scientifically grounded balance.

Read SMCI’s letter here: http://solvecfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SMCI-Letter-of-Protest-Dr-Shorter.pdf.

We need your help in contacting your congressional representative ASAP to keep up the pressure on the NIH.

Follow these three easy steps below:

Step 1: Call your representative

To find your U.S. House of Representatives member, visit http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/.

Please note that this action is for REPRESENTATIVES ONLY, NOT SENATORS.

Please call the Washington DC office, not the district office, and ask to speak to the legislative assistant for health. If the legislative assistant is not available, you can ask to leave a message or immediately ask for the   e-mail address of the legislative assistant to send him or her your request in writing.

Feel free to tell the legislative assistant your story, but remember to be very brief. Use the sample script below as a guide.

My name is _________. I’m a constituent in {city}. I am calling with an urgent request for Representative {NAME} to contact the National Institutes of Health. The NIH has invited an inflammatory and controversial speaker, Dr. Shorter, who denies that ME/CFS is a physical disease. Between 1 to 2.5 million Americans like me [or my family member] who are afflicted with the horrific, disabling, and costly disease myalgic encephalomyelitis, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome or ME/CFS. ME/CFS has no known cause, cure, diagnostic test, or FDA-approved treatment, and it often leaves patients bedridden for decades. Please urge Representative {NAME} to support patients and voice their concern about this troubling speaker who calls me [or my family member] “delusional.” May I have your e-mail address to send you additional information?

If you do not receive an e-mail address for a particular staffer, ask for the general comment e-mail address.

Step 2: E-mail your representative

After you speak to the staff person by phone, it is always helpful to follow up with an e-mail. Download a helpful ME/CFS issue fact sheet here (http://solvecfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SMCI-NIH-Response-Flaws-Flier.pdf) to include with your e-mail. Feel free to personalize the e-mail below.

Dear Congress Member [LAST NAME],

As a constituent and as a (caregiver to / loved one of) a patient with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), I am bringing your attention to the immediate need for Congress to assist ME/CFS patients. In September, 55 bipartisan members of the House of Representatives joined together to write to NIH Director Francis Collins regarding ME/CFS. That letter was not enough, and we need your help now.

As you may know, ME/CFS is a complex disease with no known cause, treatment, diagnostic tool, nor cure. The CDC estimates that up to 2.5 million Americans suffer from ME/CFS, and patients have lower quality of life scores than those with lung cancer, stroke, and rheumatoid arthritis. According to the 2015 Institute of Medicine Report on ME/CFS, the disease costs the U.S. economy an estimated $17-$24 billion per year.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has not taken substantial action. When Director Collins responded to Congress, he wrote of an ME/CFS Interest group, a lecture series, and the promise of funding to come. Read more about Director Collins’s response here: http://solvecfs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SMCI-NIH-Response-Flaws-Flier.pdf.

And the NIH continues to disregard the legitimate needs of ME/CFS patients. On Wednesday, November 9, the NIH’s clinical center is scheduled to host a lecture given by Dr. Edward Shorter, a historian at the University of Toronto and one of the most controversial and inflammatory figures to the ME/CFS patient community. This man, despite overwhelming scientific evidence, does not believe ME/CFS is an actual disease—instead calling it a “psychic epidemic” perpetrated by “moaning and groaning victims” who are “delusional.” Dr. Shorter has written pieces so disparaging of patients that they were removed from circulation by Psychology Today.

The NIH is clearly not prioritizing a solution to ME/CFS when they provide a forum for a speaker who demeans patients and denies scientific findings. I am asking you to please stand with patients who are very ill with this very REAL physiological disease, as verified by thousands of published scientific articles.

Please contact NIH Director Francis Collins and ask him to

• Present scientifically grounded information to NIH researchers. If the NIH insists on including an inflammatory and controversial speaker who offers no scientific rigor, please balance this with an opposing expert such as Mary Dimmock, author of 30 Years of Disdain: How HHS and a Group of Psychiatrists Buried Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.
• Reaffirm the findings of the Institute of Medicine report that ME/CFS is a true physiological disease, not a psychological one.
• Prioritize ME/CFS funding with substantial investment commensurate with the burden of this devastating disease.

Only continued oversight from you and your colleagues in Congress will induce the NIH to take the actions necessary to help patients.

Very truly yours,

(NAME)

Step 3: Let us know how it went

E-mail our advocacy and engagement manager, Emily Taylor (etaylor@solvecfs.org), to let us know your member of Congress received the message.

Thank you for doing your part to advocate on behalf of all the patients who suffer with this disease.

55 Members of Congress Sign Letter Supporting Biomedical Research for ME/CFS

After dogged work by advocates, fifty-five members of Congress have added their signatures to a letter initiated by representatives Zoe Lofgren (D - CA) and Anna Eshoo (D - CA).

The letter urges NIH to respond in a timely fashion to requests for grants. It also asks NIH to report its efforts to fund research as well as the status of specific plans for funding over the next two years.

Congressional support is crucial for obtaining funding for research because unlike agencies, which are beyond our influence, representatives have an obligation to support the interests of their constituents.
____________________

SCMI Press Release:

Advocates Obtain Congressional Support for Strengthened ME/CFS Research at NIH

LOS ANGELES, September 9, 2016 – After years of neglect by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), patients suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), created a win today as members of Congress came together urging the NIH to do the right thing and strengthen ME/CFS research.

In a formal U.S. House of Representatives letter published today (“the letter”), 55 members of Congress called upon NIH Director Francis Collins to strengthen the NIH’s efforts in ME/CFS biomedical research through a reinvigorated trans-NIH ME/CFS working group as well as additional intramural and extramural research programs.

As the letter explains, “ME/CFS is a complex, debilitating, and chronic disease afflicting 1 to 2.5 million Americans. It costs individuals, the U.S. health care system, and our economy an estimated $17-$24 billion annually. Yet, as the Institute of Medicine noted in its report, ‘Beyond Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Redefining an Illness,’ there has been ‘remarkably little research funding’ to date to discover its cause or possible treatments.”

Thanks to the hard work of #MEAction, the Solve ME/CFS Initiative (SMCI), and dozens of independent advocates, the letter attracted a broad coalition of bipartisan cosigners led by U.S. Representatives Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo of California. In addition to encouraging advocates all across the country to reach out to their own representatives, SMCI President Carol Head also wrote a personal letter to all 435 representatives, urging them to sign onto the letter.

Said SMCI President Carol Head, “The NIH has failed to live up to its commitment to ME/CFS patients and has not followed the recommendations put forth in the 2015 IOM report; now, thanks to the actions of a coalition of hardworking advocates and members of Congress, we expect this to change.”

To read the letter and see the 55 members of Congress who signed on, view the letter here.

About the Solve ME/CFS Initiative (SMCI)

The Solve ME/CFS Initiative (SMCI) was founded in 1987 and has established itself as the leading non-profit organization dedicated to ME/CFS. The organization’s mission is to make ME/CFS widely understood, diagnosable, and treatable by stimulating and conducting research aimed at the early detection, objective diagnosis, and effective treatment of ME/CFS. SMCI is the first and only ME/CFS organization to earn the highest possible distinction (a 4-star rating) from Charity Navigator, America’s largest independent charity evaluator.

September 9, 2016

#MillionsMissing: A Day of Global Protest

This post was originally published on ProHealth.

By Erica Verrillo
 
On May 25, 2016, protesters all around the globe gathered to demand greater recognition and research funding for ME/CFS. Simultaneous protests were held in Melbourne, Australia; London, England; Belfast, Ireland, Ottawa, Canada; and in Boston, Washington, DC, Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Raleigh, Atlanta. and Philadelphia in the U.S. It was the largest protest ever held for this disease, involving thousands of participants worldwide.
 
The Millions Missing protest was organized by MEAction and coordinated by a group of dedicated advocates in order to highlight the long neglect of patients with ME and CFS. Millions missing represents the missing millions of dollars of research funding that should have been spent to find a cause and a cure. Millions missing also represents the millions of people who are missing their careers, their families, their friends, and their lives due to the ravages of a disease that can disable a sufferer for decades.
 
In most of these demonstrations, a display of shoes, sometimes in the hundreds, was laid out to symbolize missing patients who, due to illness, could not protest in person. Virtual demonstrations – pictures of shoes placed in driveways, on doorsteps, and on walkways accompanied by personal notes– were held in tandem. The virtual protest generated over 10,000 tweets with the hashtag #MillionsMissing as well as thousands of posts on Facebook.
 
Local organizers took advantage of this event to schedule meetings with HHS officials as well as their representatives. Jennifer Brea, founder of #MEAction, met with Senator Cory Booker's staff (Dem NJ), and patient advocate Sonya Heller Iray met with Senator John McCain (Rep AZ) and his staff for an hour.

To view photos from the #MillionsMissing protests around the world, go here.

The #MillionsMissing protest list of demands can be found here.

For #MillionsMissing in the news go here. 
 

SAN FRANCISCO

 

 
More than one hundred people gathered in front of the Federal Building in San Francisco. Carol Head, CEO of Solve ME/CFS Initiative, exhorted the federal government to live up to its promises. “We're all here today, because it's time for our government to increase funding and support for this disease,” she said. Ron Davis, scientific director of Open Medicine Foundation, talked about the research he is doing. “We are very close to finding a biomarker,” he said. “We do NOT want to wait another thirty years.” And as his wife, Janet Dafoe, spoke about their severely ill son, Whitney, the crowd chanted “Whitney ... Whitney ... Whitney...”  bringing tears to her eyes.

BOSTON

In Boston, demonstrators assembled at the JFK Federal Building. They handed out information and gathered signatures on a petition to support more funding for ME/CFS. Members of the group met separately with senior officials from the Boston branch of Health & Human Services to ask for their support. Charmian Proskauer, President of the Mass CFIDS/ME and FM Association was upbeat about the meeting. “They were very well informed, understood our issues, and asked great questions. We see this as the beginning of an on-going relationship,” she said.

SEATTLE

ATLANTA

 

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

In Melbourne, hundreds of shoes were placed on the lawn in front of the Victoria State Library. (Photo credit: Karyn Adams)

LONDON, ENGLAND

In London, demonstrators held a silent protest at the Department of Health. Many stretched duct tape across their mouths to symbolize government neglect of ME/CFS patients. Ollie Cornes, a former software engineer, said, “The treatments the NHS provides are so ineffective as to be a waste of time and can be very harmful, which is why we are protesting at the Deptartment of Health.” Like so many other patients, Cornes was unable to attend the demonstration in person. He was represented by a pair of red baseball shoes.

This Is It! May 12th International ME/CFS Awareness Day!

A version of this post first appeared on ProHealth.

By Erica Verrillo

International ME/CFS Awareness Day was originated by Tom Hennessy, an ME patient and staunch advocate who testified at numerous national and international ME/CFS conferences and meetings. Tom chose May 12th as ME/CFS Awareness Day to commemorate the birth of the famous nurse, Florence Nightingale, who suffered from an ME/CFS-like illness. May 12 is also International Nurses Day.

Over the years May 12 has been expanded to include other neuro-immune illnesses that share many of the features of ME/CFS. At present May 12 includes Fibromyalgia (FM), Lyme disease, and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). All of these illnesses employ May 12 as an opportunity to raise public awareness, to contact representatives for more research, and to promote fund-raising activities.

Although it is not formally recognized in the US, International ME/CFS and FM Awareness Day is observed worldwide.

Simple things you can do:

• Wear a blue ribbon for ME/CFS, a purple ribbon for FM, or a green ribbon for Lyme disease and MCS.
• Tweet on May 12. Add #may12th to your tweet.
• If you have a blog or a Facebook page, post something. It can be as simple as an awareness image.
• If you have some spare cash, donate to research efforts. Open Medicine Foundation is raising money for their End ME/CFS Project.

INTERNATIONAL

Light Up the Night Challenge. “The challenge is to get as many buildings as possible in your country to light up with one of the 3 colours used on May 12th – blue (ME/CFS), purple (FM) or green (Lyme and MCS). We want public buildings/places like City Halls, Niagara Falls and we want individual homes lit up too!” See the Facebook page HERE.

#May12BlogBomb is back! May 12th is Awareness Day for ME, Fibromyalgia, Lyme Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Every year bloggers use this opportunity to express their views and to raise the profile of these much misunderstood and often maligned conditions. Blog bomb information is HERE.

Google – Create a Doodle. Every year the doodlers ask Google to create a doodle. This year they are also supporting other events and activities. Please go to their Facebook page HERE.

One week about ME on social media This is where people with ME are asked to share one picture a day about their ME during ME awareness week. Each day has a specific photo topic: smile for ME, your favourite low level activity, something which makes you feel better, get creative with spoons, something you're preparing for, a hand written message to fellow spoonies, you on a good day. There are also a topic to write about each day alongside your photo for example "I wish people without ME would..." The photos are to be shared on social media using the hashtag #1weekaboutME.

ME/CFS EVENTS

#Millionsmissing Virtual Protest – May 25

The #Millionsmissing protest is being organized by ME Action to draw attention to the plight of millions of people with ME/CFS. There are several things you can do to participate in #Milllionsmissing that do not require leaving your home.

1. You can send your shoes to Washington DC.

ME Action is asking patients who are unable to make it to the physical protest locations to please donate one pair of shoes. They will display them at the Washington, DC protest. You can send a pair of old shoes or if it’s difficult to get to the post office, order shoes on Amazon or Ebay and have them shipped directly. During the protest, images of these shoes will be posted to #MEAction’s social media account using the #MillionsMissing hashtag, so patients can see that they are being represented during the demonstration. Shoes cannot be returned. After the protest, they will be donated to a local charity or kept for a future installation.

Fill out this form and and then mail your shoes to: Paige Maxon, P.O. Box 26051, Winston Salem, NC 27114. All shoes must be postmarked by May 10th, 2016!

Send your shoes to London

You can also send shoes to the London protest. Fill out this UK form and mail to: LA Cooper, 25 Grassmead, Thatcham, Berkshire, RG19 4FP (UK)

Better yet – send to BOTH locations  

2. You can also put a pair of shoes at the end of your driveway or your doorstep.

On May 25th, take a pair of shoes (or several) and put them on your doorstep, lawn, or driveway. Take a photo and post it on social media #MillionsMissing. Anyone can participate. You might pair the shoes with a sign that expresses what the empty shoes mean to you. Some examples: “I cannot walk to the end of my driveway” or “My brother should be here.”

3. Use social media

On May 25th, post selfies on social media (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc) – in your bed, home, wheelchair, at work, wherever you live – to help us show online the millions who are missing from the protest. Use the hashtag: #MillionsMissing so that we can aggregate all the photos. You can use #MEAction #mecfs #pwme to help identify your post.

You can hold your own #Missingmillions protest sign with a slogan in your photo. Here are a few examples to get started:

• Missing my life for 22 years because of ME
• Missing sufficient research
• Missing adequate medical care
• Missing a doctor who believes me
• Missing college / Missing my family / Missing running in the park

4. Promote #Missingmillions

Promote the hashtag and shoe installation on your social media accounts. Email patients, friends, families, allies who are in the vicinity of the satellite protests http://millionsmissing.meaction.net/locations/

5. If you are in the US, send an informational packet to your representatives

Send this Forgotten Plague Congressional Pack to your congressmen/women and state representatives before the protest.

Find your congressional representative here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Find your Senator here: http://www.senate.gov/senators/contact/

Detroit, Michigan

New organization FIND (Foundation for Immunological and Neurological Diseases) will be hosting an
ME/CFS Awareness Walk 2016 - May 14, in Troy, Michigan (Detroit area), contact Frank Plizga -  sicnar@comcast.net

https://www.facebook.com/events/227053180988355/

The walk is from noon to 1 pm. So there are 5 confirmed walkers and 5 conditional. There will be balloons, signs and passouts.

Fundraising

Undies on the Outside Challenge

Help raise funds for OMF's End ME/CFS Project! WHY UNDIES ON THE OUTSIDE? Because superheroes wear their undies on the outside, and you have to be a superhero to live with this disease! Wearing underwear on the outside symbolizes bringing an invisible illness, which is usually hidden away, out into the open.

AUSTRALIA

The Do Something for ME project is designed to raise awareness in the general community about ME/CFS and to raise funds to support Emerge Australia to continue its work advocating for, educating about and providing information on the condition.

IRELAND

Walk for ME is a 5 km Charity Walk to raise Awareness and Funding for biomedical research into M.E. (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) at the beautiful Belevedere House & Gardens. All proceeds going directly to the charity "Invest In ME" for biomedical research into M.E. “We're not strict on people finishing the full 5 km, if they're not able. A person can undertake any amount of distance.” For more information go HERE.

The Irish ME/CFS Association is pleased to announce that it has arranged for four free screenings of the documentary on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS), Forgotten Plague, in various venues around Ireland during May, ME/CFS Awareness Month: 

- Limerick: South Court Hotel. Thurs, May 5. 11:30 AM. 

- Galway: Maldron Hotel, Headford Road. Thurs, May 12. 7.30pm 

- Dundalk: An Táin Theatre, Crowe Street. Tues, May 17. 2 PM. 

- Dublin: Crowne Plaza Dublin Blanchardstown. Sunday, May 29. 3 PM. 

These are the first public screenings of the documentary in Ireland. 

All are welcome. Further details are available on the Association’s website www.irishmecfs.org. 

UK

Please come support our #MillionsMissing UK Protest in London!

When: Wed. May 25th, 2016 12 PM – 2PM

Where: Department of Health Richmond House

79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS, United Kingdom

Be a part of the #MillionsMissing international day of protest, by attending #MillionsMissing UK, either physically or virtually. Come stand for the millions of severely ill patients living with this ME/CFS who are missing out on every day life. Whether you’re a patient, healthy ally or someone just learning of this disease, everyone is welcome to join in the fight for more funding for research and education.

To be at the protest in London, we suggest you bring a blanket, pillow, mobility scooter, or wheelchair to be as comfortable as possible. Consider wearing duct tape, with #MillionsMissing written across to represent this silent epidemic.

To particiapte virtually, please send shoes to the #MillionsMissing DC Protest or the #MillionsMissing UK Protest. To send shoes to the UK Protest, please mail to: 25 Grassmead, Thatcham, Berkshire, RG19 4FP (UK) 

Email L.A. Cooper with any questions at info@changeformechangeforus.co.uk

____________________

Blue Sunday

When: May 15

Where: UK

Blue Sunday is an event which has been going on for several years. Anna, the organiser invites you to have a coffee morning with your friends and family in aid of the ME Association. Guests are asked to bring the amount of money they would normally expect to pay for tea and cake as a donation. You can also take part in the national movement online, by joining in virtually! Here is a link to a blog post where Anna talks about the event in more detail, and here is a link to the online event, for those who are unable to attend an event or host their own. Here is a fundraising page, where you can join the team, or donate to a member of the team! You can read about the history of the event here.

____________________

Go blue for ME

This is organized by the ME Association, as blue is the color for ME awareness the public are encouraged to dress up in blue, or do something related to the color blue for ME awareness day which is the 12th of may, or for ME awareness week which is the 9th-15th of May. Share your blue antics on social media using the hashtags #GoBLUEME, #MEawareness or #MEawarenessweek! See the image below for more details.

#MillionsMissing ME/CFS Protest: Demands

Reprinted with permission from ME Action.

On May 25, 2016, at the #MillionsMissing demonstrations, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients and families, advocacy organizations and individual activists call for the US Department of Health and Human Services to implement the following list of demands.

Our goal is to give the 1 to 2.5 million[i] disabled American ME/CFS patients their lives back, and to prevent even more children, teens, young adults and adults from joining the ranks of the millions who are already missing — missing from their careers, schools, social lives and families due to the debilitating symptoms of the disease. 

Millions of dollars are also missing from ME/CFS research, and millions of medical providers are missing out on proper clinical training to diagnose and help patients manage this devastating illness.
​
For ME/CFS patients and their families, we demand:

1. Increased Funding and Program Investments

Funding and program investments commensurate with the disease burden

2.  Clinical Trials

Clinical trials to secure medical treatments for ME/CFS

3.  Accurate Medical Education

Replacement of misinformation with accurate medical education and clinical guidelines

4.  A Serious Commitment

HHS leadership, oversight and a serious commitment to urgently address ME/CFS

Rationale and Details for the #MillionsMissing ME/CFS Protest Demands

For ME/CFS patients and their families, we demand:

1. Funding and Program Investments Commensurate with the Disease Burden

The NIH must dedicate funding and program investments for ME/CFS commensurate with the disease burden, and they must do this without continued delay, as patients have already been waiting three decades.

Rationale

Thirty years of neglect by the NIH, combined with a stigma toward this disease, has resulted in insufficient and erroneous research as well as uninvolved academic researchers and pharmaceutical companies. To address these problems, and save lives, the NIH must immediately implement an aggressive set of investments to substantially ramp up its funding and program commitments over the next 3-5 years.

Details

To finally have NIH funding and investments commensurate with disease burden, our demand is to increase the paltry $7M per year currently allotted to ME/CFS to the more equitable amount of $250M. This new program of investments must be developed and executed in collaboration with ME research experts, clinicians and patients, and must include:

• Funding five regional ME/CFS Centers of Excellence, each with a research/clinical trial component and also a clinical care component to address the current crisis.
• Funding multiple requests for applications (RFAs) for ME/CFS over the next three years, for a total of $10M the first year, $20M the second year and $25M the third year.
• A significant increase in funding for investigator-initiated extramural research (including hypothesis-generating research), as well as a commitment of intramural staff focused on ME research.
• Funding a research network that will collaborate in the development and execution of an ME/CFS research strategy.
• Funding an outreach plan to engage major academic centers and pharmaceutical and biotech companies in ME/CFS research and drug development.

2. Clinical Trials to Secure Medical Treatments for ME/CFS

HHS must fund and incentivize ME/CFS clinical trials to secure medical treatments for ME/CFS. This must be done with great haste, as patients are missing out on their lives and losing their lives to this disease.

Rationale

After thirty years, there is still not one Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medication for the disease. An estimated one-quarter of ME/CFS patients are severely ill, meaning at least two hundred and fifty thousand patients are unable to leave their homes or bed, many for decades. With no FDA-approved treatments available to them, they have little hope of ever improving. To address this situation, HHS must fund and incentivize clinical trials in the following manner:

Details

• We demand the NIH immediately partner with the FDA to address the key obstacles to moving clinical trials forward. NIH must also actively incentivize pharmaceutical and biotech industries so that at least five accelerated clinical trials of medications are conducted over the next five years. The goal must be getting at least two FDA-approved medications on the market for ME/CFS patients in the next five years. Proposed medications include Ampligen, Rituxan and antiviral medications, all drugs that have been in trials already and have been successfully used to treat ME/CFS patients.
• The clinical trials must include severely ill, homebound patients, and must be overseen by an advisory team of ME/CFS specialists and researchers who best know the needs of this patient population.

3. Accurate Medical Education and Clinical Guidelines

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) must immediately discard its erroneous and outdated information related to ME/CFS and replace it with accurate medical education and clinical guidelines. The guidelines must be based on the most recent scientific information and the practices of ME/CFS experts, and be preapproved by a panel of recognized disease experts.

Rationale

It is morally reprehensible and medically unethical for the CDC to continue to disseminate erroneous and outdated information that can hurt patients. In spite of the findings of the 2015 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, the CDC still includes references to psychological theories and treatments, such as GET (graded exercise therapy) and CBT (cognitive behavior therapy), even though the IOM report discredits the idea that this disease is psychological. This perpetuates medical confusion and puts ME/CFS patients at significant risk of harm. To address this situation, the CDC must immediately issue new ME/CFS medical education and clinical guidelines in the following manner:

Details

• The CDC must immediately revise their ME/CFS medical education and clinical guidelines to replace erroneous and outdated information with updated, correct information based on the 2014 IACFS/ME Primer, and the IOM report, supplemented with the August 2015 recommendations from the CFS Advisory Committee. The IOM report stated that ME/CFS is not a psychological disease, yet much of the influential research on ME/CFS has focused on psychological factors. A 2015 NIH Pathways to Prevention (P2P) Report called for the retirement of the Oxford case definition because it is overly broad and includes people with other conditions including mental illness. Yet findings using the Oxford case definition are still being referenced in CDC material, even in new medical education information from the CDC and other medical education providers. This encourages an unethical focus on psychological factors and treatments, such as GET and CBT.
• All medical education content must be approved by recognized ME/CFS expert clinicians, researchers and patients before publication.
• The CDC must actively reach out to the larger medical community and to medical education providers to disseminate this updated content while simultaneously removing the erroneous information and material.

4. HHS Leadership, Oversight and a Serious Commitment to Urgently Address ME/CFS

HHS must demonstrate a serious commitment to ME/CFS commensurate with the severity and prevalence of the disease. This commitment must specifically remove all internal HHS impediments  to achieving rapid progress and must be implemented with the full and open collaboration of, and accountability to ME/CFS experts and patients.

Rationale

HHS’s lack of leadership and commitment to ME/CFS for the past thirty years has resulted in the neglect of a serious neurological disease and the abandonment of 1 to 2.5 million disabled Americans. HHS’s neglect has stalled research and drug development; disincentivized academic centers and pharmaceutical companies; and led to disbelieving medical providers, which has, in turn, resulted in a stigmatization of patients and abysmal, often harmful, clinical care. HHS’s short-sighted policies and unilateral actions have destroyed the scientific and medical infrastructure for ME/CFS that could have advanced research and proper care for patients. HHS must now act with a commitment, focus and sense of urgency regarding all aspects of its response to this disease in order to remedy the situation, as patients are losing their lives to this disease, many having spent years, even decades, too weak to function. In doing so, HHS’s decision-making process can no longer take place behind closed doors; HHS plans for ME/CFS must be developed and executed in conjunction with those who intimately know the disease: ME/CFS experts and patients.

Details

• HHS Leadership, Oversight and Commitment

To ensure rapid progress, HHS must immediately accept the CFSAC Aug. 2015 recommendation of appointing a “senior-level cross-agency leader (“czar”) with the authority, position and fiscal responsibility required to coordinate, develop, implement, and monitor a broad strategic cross-agency response to this disease through open and collaborative engagement of both internal and external stakeholders.” The plan must be fast-tracked and must include long-term goals and milestones, as well as criteria for measuring progress. The currently established Trans-NIH ME/CFS Working Group does not address these needs, as it has no coordination of a cross-agency strategic response. That response must address not only research, but also drug development, epidemiology, medical education, access and quality of medical care and public awareness.

• NIH Leadership, Oversight and Commitment

Given the multi-systemic nature of ME/CFS, it is crucial that each relevant Institute within the NIH must immediately put forth its own publicly-stated strategic and financial commitments and goals. To ensure coordination across the Institutes and to make rapid progress on an NIH research strategy, the Trans-NIH ME/CFS Working Group must continue. Finally, to ensure we make fast progress in the context of the NIH’s organizational structure, ME/CFS must be assigned to an NIH Institute right away. Given ME’s clear neurological dysfunction, the disease must be placed in the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) as recommended by CFSAC. 

• CDC Leadership, Oversight and Commitment

To demonstrate their serious commitment to urgently address ME/CFS, the CDC must restore the ME/CFS budget which was eliminated in their 2017 budget justification submitted to Congress.  Additionally, the CDC must provide funds to conduct epidemiological studies to reassess prevalence, prognosis and risk factors. In doing so, the CDC must use the Canadian Consensus Criteria, as does the NIH in its current intramural study. Further, the CDC must implement a mechanism to ensure that a panel of recognized disease experts are involved in final decision making on all aspects of the CDC’s efforts related to ME/CFS.

Closing Note: These demands could change if there is any new information coming from the NIH, the CDC or HHS before the date of the #MillionsMissing demonstration on May 25, 2016.

Contact
To learn more, please contact
info@MEAction.net

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