UK Government Response to the 13,000 Signature LDN Now NHS Low Dose Naltrexone Trial Petition to Gordon Brown, UK Prime Minister.

Link - http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page21825

Text -

All drugs need to be thoroughly tested to make sure they are safe enough to be made available to patients. Most research of this kind is done by the pharmaceutical industry. The Government is aware that occasionally there will be few or no commercial incentives for companies to fund clinical trials.

The Department of Health’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) supports the research most likely to bring benefits to patients and to the NHS. High quality proposals for support into any aspect of human health are always welcome. The NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme in particular is keen to receive suggestions for research topics in areas of market failure. These can be sent through the open access form at: www.hta.ac.uk/suggest/index.shtml.

To date, no application has been received regarding low dose naltrexone. Any application would be considered on its merits.

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Author's Note - There is reason to suspect the sbove is not factually correct and that one application has been made. More news to follow later.

Audit Scotland Warns of Pressures on the NHS Scotland Budget - Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Savings Cannot Be Ignored


And so it goes on, yet another reason why the 4000%+ higher price of currently used auto-immune and cancer treatments vs Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) cannot be ignored any longer. The potential billions of pounds in savings here make the millions required for LDN clinical trials a sound investment for the NHS in Scotland and the UK as a whole.

http://bit.ly/SPLDNcost

UK Telegraph - NICE Propose to Restrict Key IBD Treatments to One Year on Grounds of Cost


Yet more justification, if any were needed that the UK NHS needs to seriously look into widespread use of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) as a low cost treatment for Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis and the any other conditions it has been used successfully to reat including other auto-immune disease, cancers, autism and HIV/AIDs.

At £12,500 per patient per year for Infliximab versus £300 per year for Low Dose Naltrexone, it is the proverbial 'no-brainer' for the NHS to do whatever it takes to convince consultants and GPs that LDN is a suitable drug choice for IBD.

The government and public bodies need to cease dithering on this and take action now so that IBD sufferers need not suffer unnecessarily.

http://bit.ly/NICEIBD

Round-Up of LDN Now Low Dose Naltrexone Campaign at The Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee


Original video of the meeting here (Click link 01/12/2009 and fast forward 39 minutes to LDN Now meeting) -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNvid1

youtube version -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNvid

Interview segment from Holyrood TV Highlights programme (Click link 03/12/2009 and fast forward to 16:00 minutes) -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNint

Full transcript of the meeting -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNmin

LDN Now Group Petitions and Meets with The Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Commitee on Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) Availability on the NHS in Scotland

The meeting is available on vide here (Window Media file) -

http://bit.ly/SPLDNvid1

(Click the 01/12/2009 link and forward to 39 minutes in)
This video extract will be available on youtube.com shortly.

The first minute of the meeting is available here - http://bit.ly/SPLDNmin1

Some key quotes (Paraphrased)

Robin Harper, (Scottish Green Party) - Basis for clinical trial exists with current LDN evidence. Suggest GPs gather clinical data on LDN use.

Anne McLaughlin (SNP) - Committee needs to write to charities to ask if they will help fund trials.

Nigel Don (SNP) - LDN is a drug that treats the immune system drug and clinical trials are required for all conditions it can be shown to treat.

John Wilson (SNP) - Health charities should be encouraged to ensure they are spending money on researching all options for their patients, including LDN.

Frank McAveety (Labour) - The issue that the private sector will not fund trials due to no profit motive is clear and is noted.

A full transcript will be available on 8th December,