Stop calling it a cure!

There are only so many times you can tolerate certain immoral opinions or attitudes before you get sick and tired of it.

Sick‘: You wake up from, for example, stabbing facial pain because you turned over in your sleep, with the bad side of your face resting on your pillow. Three painkillers later, you’re still awake.

Tired’ is, as such, equally dastardly in its premise.

Now, I don’t pretend to speak for the world as my voice doesn’t carry that weight, and never will. What I’m to write about, though, is something that many of those living with MS must confront each time they read newspaper/wellness website articles about any combination of the following words:

Could be. About to. Close to. On the verge of.

Extreme. Miracle. Controversial. Wonder.

And the most important word to people living with multiple sclerosis: ‘cure’.

If a profanity-meter would have been attached to my tongue three weeks ago, it would have been booked for speeding backwards — Fast & Furious style, of course — up and down a cul-de-sac, which doesn’t happen all that often. The instigator? Traditional and certain social media republishing things like, “Doctor on the verge of finding a cure for MS.”

It began after receiving a link in Facebook to this

Meet the Cambridge Scientist on Verge of Curing Multiple Sclerosis – The Hearty Soul on January 29, 2019 at 8:24 pm

It could just as well have been this link:

Scientist close to finding cure for MS which could help 2.3 million people – Newsner, January 16, 2019

Or, this one:

MEET SU METCALFE, THE CAMBRIDGE SCIENTIST ON VERGE OF CURING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, Healthy Living Idea, March 26, 2019

And, also in 2019, published on shared.com, who despite their own guidelines and ethics (“We research and double-check everything we put on our site”) posted this:

Cambridge Scientist Close To Finding Cure For Multiple Sclerosis, Could Be A Revolutionary Breakthrough, Shared, February 18, 2019 by Indu Thomas

Note that the above articles went online in 2019, while the original article by Matt Gooding below did on June 4th, 2017 and on June 6th, 2017 respectively on Cambrigdeshire Live and on the UK Mirror paper:

Meet the Cambridge scientist on verge of curing Multiple Sclerosis: This amazing work could literally change the world – Cambridgeshire Live, June 4th 2017 by Matt Gooding

Brit scientist could be about to CURE multiple sclerosis and provide hope for millions – UK Mirror Online, June 6th, 2017 by Matt Gooding

Six times the same newspaper article, nearly all the same words, nothing more added, and all published between 2017 and 2019.

Who, what, why?

In 2017, Dr Su Metcalfe, a Senior Neuroscience Research Associate at Cambridge University together with her team at LIFNano believed they were “on the verge of a step-change in medicine by using nanotechnology to healthcare – nano-medicine – is now recognised worldwide as a new era in clinical medicine.”

The only catch?

At the time of the publication of the original newspaper article in June 2017, Dr Metcalfe spoke of two major funding partners. She added, “The 2020 date is ambitious, but with the funding we’ve got and the funding we’re hoping to raise, it should be possible.”

In 2018, four funding partners engaged with LIFNano, but republished old articles do not mention whether other partners were found, or if so, who they might be. They did have this to say in 2018:

“Currently, two trials are planned, the first Phase Ib, to confirm safety in patients. The second Phase IIa, looking for benefits in people recently diagnosed with MS. However, we are also fully aware of the needs of all MS sufferers. Therefore, there are other trials planned that may be fast-tracked, these will build on the knowledge gained from the initial trials and will be guided by our expert panel.”
(The Pathway of Clinical Trials, LifNano, May 2018)

Regardless of how many financial partners LIFNano has to date, they still have a long way to go before clinical trials can begin.

So, not enough funding yet. And no info when the clinical trials will begin, either.

Please think about it, dear media

The likelihood of all medicines finishing all their trial stages is small. At less than 14%, you understand the emotional battles people with incurable, serious illnesses contend with because your hopes are artificially raised when news about possible trials are published.

Depending on the illness and treatment sought, development of new medicines can take 10 to 15 years or more to complete all 3 phases of clinical trials before the licensing stage. Here, “ON THE VERGE OFF” equals heartache to those living with MS including their loved ones. According to MS Trust, “Only one or two compounds in 10,000 tested actually make it through to being licensed treatments. A potential new medicine may be rejected at any point in the development process on safety, effectiveness or quality grounds.”

In 2017, as a businesswoman and founder of LIFNano, Dr Metcalfe went on a legitimate quest for venture capitalists to expand clinical trials. In 2019 however, social media, different medical or wellness websites, tabloids and other media blatantly copied the same words of the original newspaper article, which is not OK, not by anyone’s standard aside from those looking for clickbait.

In addition, since Dr Su Metcalfe’s regenerative nanomedicine company, LIFNano™, was named the Most Promising Nanomedicine Project at the International Nano Medicine Awards in Berlin on Tuesday, November 7 in 2017, this could have been mentioned in articles copied and pasted after this date.

Dear Media,

You should know better.

It began with this article in 2017 (*)

Meet the Cambridge scientist on verge of curing Multiple Sclerosis:
This amazing work could literally change the world
(Cambridgeshire Live, June 4th, 2017)

Two years later…

Meet Su Metcalfe, the Cambridge scientist on the verge of curing multiple sclerosis (Healthy Living Idea, March 26, 2019)

It seems rectitude in journalism is sometimes hard to find.

Please do not confuse me with haters of the media just because of the less than favourable views I hold about you right now. I am in favour of a free press, left-wing with a singular love for all things written, including your newspapers and magazines.

But, as an agency of knowledge, keeper of history and bridge between communities your printed word – any mass media source owes it to their casual readers, daily subscribers, journalists and wider community to speak truth to power.

Depending on the illness, development of new medicines can take 10 to 15 years to complete all 3 phases of clinical trials before the licensing stage. According to MS Trust, “Only one or two compounds in 10,000 tested make it through to being licensed treatments. A potential new medicine may be rejected at any point in the development process on safety, effectiveness or quality grounds.”

Publishing news articles about an idea in 2017 before it has even gathered enough funding before it can go into the clinical trialling stage, is rather not-done. “On the verge of curing MS” equals immediate heartache for those living with MS and constitutes a gross overstatement for something that might never make it to the licensing stage.

Two years on from the original article, however, its content found its way online again via viral sites. But few of you have checked if any progress has been made in finding that elusive cure since 2017. As a matter of fact, it is frightening how any serious current affairs/wellness website can take itself seriously when it blatantly copies and pastes old content, word for word.

In a field of fast-changing medical discoveries in neuroscience, republishing two-year-old articles with no accountability, respect or updated investigation concerning the original content is beyond inappropriate for anyone with an incurable illness.

Just imagine, your paper or website could be the only source of information for someone unable to digest medical journals or browse for more info. Imagine, that person might cling to something that might never happen.

Just imagine.
I was one of them.
Lying in wait to catch that cure.
Unfortunately, it won’t be Su Metcalfe’s, not within my lifetime.
I want that cure, yesterday if possible. Not for me but for my loved ones who deserve the person I once used to be.
So, splendid media, is it too much to ask to stop using people with chronic and terminal illnesses as mere clickbait?

MS Trust, a UK charity that believes no one should have to manage MS alone, asked the media to calm down merely after the original article went live in 2017 in their Talk of a cure is premature post. They added: “The press is “very immature and irresponsible, mentioning the word ‘cure’ when there’s no clinical data yet to show that Dr Metcalfe’s treatment is safe and effective.”

Adding more juice to the story, Multiple Sclerosis News also added to the taste of the week: Hyping MS Headlines Is Uncool.

Nevertheless, dear Media, I get it. I’m not stupid. Maintaining a newspaper or website is an expensive undertaking. Here at IMSM, I know how to gather income but as a matter of principle I refuse to add advertisements. That principle is not making my words harder or more confusing to read for those who already put up with vision problems caused by their MS. I know where the pitfalls lie, and how to avoid them. People with MS have enough to contend with already, and I want their reading to be as easy-going as possible.

Perhaps you find me extraordinarily naïve sticking to that precept. That’s your prerogative. Having said that, I understand that your paper/website needs to generate income, and with as little effort as possible. You want to earn a good living so you can pay journalists to sit in a fancy office and aggregate content, preferably sipping Starbucks coffee while posting old news about serious life issues like incurable illnesses.

Again, dear media, you are one slick, quick fixer. You know what works: stories that touches people’s hearts and their emotions. You know it will gather income. Good for you. A few short clicks to search, select all, enter, tag, and publish. Job done.

Imagine when clinical trials are over and done with already…

And you didn’t look it up before hitting ‘Publish’.

On the backs of people who live day in day out, live in hope because they want to get on with life instead of having to go on living with critical illnesses.

For that reason, let me return the gesture of creating bold claims used by those who reprint old news:

“Breakthrough! Journalism is on the verge of using a miracle cure for its own extreme negligence.”

Boy, that felt good.

Doesn’t feel nice, now, does it?

This is when you can refer to therapies and discoveries ‘revolutionary’, when new treatment that can be used for BOTH relapsing/remitting MS and primary progressive MS: Ocrevus for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment: The first drug approved for relapsing and primary-progressive MS

Just an idea, of course.

Apologies for the bluntness of my verbiage. Please speak truth to power. Nothing more, nothing less.

Thank you.

Signature Willeke-Maya

Enough time passed between 2017 and 2019 to warrant a new thorough examination of the subject matter before passing as a new newspaper article. If bloggers can dive deep into consequential, secret, life-changing stories like we see so many times, so can journalists. News aggregators could have sought info about how the LIFNano project is doing right now: is more funding needed and how much longer before clinical trials begin? Or what else has LIFNano found out so far or if they have an updated view on recruiting. They could also have added new developments in a fast-moving field of MS research.

Dry copying-and-pasting is so not-kerching in my book. It’s cheap. It’s dirty. And it’s immensely misleading.

Ergo, it must stop.

When an organisation like The UK MS Trust says that the press is “very immature and irresponsible,” take heed of those words.

Don’t be fooled, though. Others are just as keen to report claims without any backbone:

I kid you not.

You might wonder, “But Willeke, when did you become so anti-media?”

Long story short, I didn’t. At all. I am a reader of just about anything. I read several Irish, American and UK newspapers every day, and my Chromecast can’t seem to find anything other than CNN America or National Geographic.

But I was once a newly diagnosed patient with relapsing/remitting MS, and I knew feck-all about it

I was clueless about clinical trials and just as clueless about governmental health departments delaying decision-making on whether ill people should receive certain treatment, simply on the basis of not being cost-effective, even when that treatment is cost-effective across the border.

When MS arrived, concerned family and friends began sending links about a “new treatment being developed and marketed next year.” I was overjoyed, both by their good intentions as well as the knowledge that for sure, there will be a cure for MS next year. Patience is often not my biggest virtue, I remained hopeful.

But next year arrived.

And another one.

And another one.

Like I said, I knew feck-all and lived in hope.

Because of a host of new research, clinical trials and treatments becoming available over the last decade, the barrage of news about MS cures spun wildly. The biggest lie by omission by the media was the length of time it takes for clinical trials to take to complete, and their success rate. CenterWatch last year put the success rate of all trialled drugs at nearly 14 percent, which eventually won approval from the FDA in the US.

After fourteen years of life with MS, I have seen more “Cure found!” stories that I could stomach. In a rare sarcastic view on whether a cure might be found within my lifetime, I would find myself thinking, “But why would pharmaceutical companies want a cure on the market when their MS-specific or non-specific product can be used for a lifetime, when a cure would end all their cash inflow?”

I forbid myself to think like this because I know that without medicines, I would not sit here today, and that my life would amount to nothing. It may not be the cure for MS I hoped for, but it makes life worth living every waking moment.

Signature WMX


blog-awards-2018_winners-gold-mpu-e1571651056851-12018 Winner Best Blog Post with ‘3443 Needles’, Blog Awards Ireland, Ashville Media Group, Dublin, Ireland

◾ Everyday Health: Top 10 MS Blog of 2020
◾ MyTherapy: Multiple Sclerosis Blogs: 10 of the Best in 2019
◾ Ireland Blog Awards: Finalist 2014, 2015, 2017
◾ MyTherapy: Best MS Blog for Simplicity 2018
◾ Everyday Health: Top 10 MS Blog of 2018
◾ Feedspot: Top 50 MS Blog 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020


© Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and Ireland, Multiple Sclerosis & Me, 2011-2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Willeke Van Eeckhoutte and irelandms.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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