- Two invitations from Sunny Sedlock -
Low Dose Naltrexone Conference, October 11, 2008, Los
Angeles
The Fourth Annual Low Dose
Naltrexone (LDN) Conference will be held on Saturday,
October 11, 2008 in Los Angeles on the Health Sciences
Campus (Mayer Auditorium, Keith Administration
Building) of the University of Southern California
(USC). All the details concerning the conference can
be found on the LDN web site, http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/conf2008.htm
Also, it is my
fondest desire to raise money on behalf of the HIV/AIDS
trial in Mali. Anything you can do to assist in this
matter is appreciated more than mere words could ever
convey.
I hope you will join me in this effort. I look
forward to hearing from you.
Aloha,
Sunny Sedlock
Coordinator,
Fourth Annual Low Dose Naltrexone Conference
7117 Park Terrace Drive
Alexandria, VA 22307
703-998-0272 - Home Office
703-888-9412 - Cell
2002Eldo@msn.com- E-Mail
EJS11715@aol.com - E-Mail
The
Mali HIV+ AIDS Initiative
http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/developing_nations.htm
Given the dire situation of the growing population of
HIV-infected people throughout the world, this is to call
your attention to a potential treatment that holds enormous
promise, and to request your help.
The generic prescription drug naltrexone, an FDA-approved
opioid antagonist, has been marketed for years in the US
and elsewhere for the treatment of opiate and alcohol
addiction. It has now demonstrated unparalleled success,
when used in a very low dose, in strengthening the immune
system in hundreds of documented cases of patients with
HIV/AIDS.
The
safety as well as potential efficacy of LDN in preventing
AIDS was first discovered by Bernard Bihari,
M.D, a Harvard-trained New York physician, in 1985. Since
that time Dr. Bihari has treated more than 350 patients,
94% of whom have remained HIV positive without progression
into AIDS for up to 18 or more years. Many of these
individuals received only LDN and some used LDN as an
auxiliary to the evolving HAART medications. However, to
this date no carefully designed controlled study has been
done to prove the efficacy of LDN in HIV positive
individuals as prevention from developing AIDS. To more
deeply evaluate this hypothesis, Dr. Bihari, Dr. Abdel
Kader Traoré (and other health officials at the University
Hospital in Bamako), and more recently Dr. Jaquelyn
McCandless, created a protocol for a controlled,
non-placebo study involving 250 adult volunteers—all of
whom are HIV positive but have not yet developed any AIDS
symptoms. The protocol is testing the efficacy of LDN alone
compared to the current HAART medications, as well as the
combination of the two. The Malian government is fully
supportive of this study and will provide the HAART
medications needed.
With
local manufacture, LDN's cost should be no more than $25.00
dollars (US) per patient per year—far less than the least
costs projected for antiretroviral therapies. Importantly,
LDN has the simplicity of being taken just once a day at
bedtime, as compared to the complexity of the combination
antiviral regimens, and is free of
side effects. This, in
turn, markedly eases the burden of treatment-related public
health education and medical supervision.
The
implications are clear for those millions in the developing
world who are already HIV positive, and who have little
possibility of affording antiretroviral medication.
The latest reports
indicate 25% of adults who need it are getting treatment
and only 6% of children. Full-scale
scientific clinical trials of LDN are urgently needed.
To
fulfill the promise of LDN as a new, affordable treatment
for HIV/AIDS, The Ojai Foundation, a 501(c) 3 organization
devoted to education and research, is sponsoring an
integrated, two-faceted HIV/AIDS initiative conducted by
the University Hospital in Bamako, Mali, that will:
1) Test the efficacy of a treatment protocol for those who
are HIV positive that significantly reduces their chances
of developing full-blown AIDS; and
2) Reduce the rate of HIV infection by encouraging changes
in the ways men and women relate that will empower women to
protect their health and the health of their children.
3) To help ensure the general availability of LDN
throughout the developing world, particularly in those
nations unable to afford HIV/AIDS treatment for their
people.
4) To gain scientific recognition of the efficacy of LDN
for the treatment of HIV/AIDS in all countries.
The
Ojai Foundation Africa Fund has been
established to seek financial support from individual
donors in the US and elsewhere in order to continue funding
this project. We are certain
you agree that the urgency behind this matter is great:
thousands die each day in the developing world of HIV/AIDS.
LDN is a drug that could prevent millions of people from
sharing the same fate.
It is our goal to raise 1 million dollars on behalf of The
Ojai Foundation Africa Fund. To accomplish this goal, we
want to hold a celebrity gala fundraising event in October,
2008. The event
would be
held
in
conjunction with the Fourth Annual Low Dose Naltrexone
(LDN) Conference that will be held on the Health Sciences
Campus of the University of Southern California (USC) in
Los Angeles on October 11, 2008.
We are seeking sponsors to hold a ($10,000 per person
minimum contribution) dinner with a silent auction of
celebrity donated items. To do this, we need a commitment
from you, to serve as a celebrity sponsor of the event.
Please contact me at your earliest convenience, so that we
can proceed with making arrangements for the event.
On behalf of Dr. Jacquelyn McCandless and Dr. Jack
Zimmerman, thank you for your generosity of time and
attention. May we, together, help save the lives of those
who suffer.
Sincerely yours,
Susan M. (Sunny) Sedlock
US Investigators
Jaquelyn McCandless, MD (Medical Consultant), Certified by
the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology,
JMcCandless@prodigy.net, phone 808-775-8142
Jack Zimmerman, PhD (Communications Consultant), Co-Chair,
The Ojai Foundation Board of Directors,
JMZimmerman@yahoo.com, phone 808-775-8142
Mali
Investigators
Prof. Abdel Kader Traoré, MD (Principal Investigator)
Department of Internal Medicine, Hôpital National du Point
G, Bamako, Mali
Dr. Ousmane Koita, PharmD, PhD (Co-Principal Investigator
and Contact Person), Applied Molecular Biology Laboratory
University of Bamako, Bamako, Mali
