Nearly 800,000 people are newly infected with herpes each year and, in 2011, Roger was one of those people. He was intentionally infected with HSV-2 and suffered several painful outbreaks each year. He was convinced his life was permanently altered and he fell into a depressive state. But, determined to overcome the virus, he formulated a combination of natural ingredients that gradually reduced his outbreaks and then completely removed the virus from his bloodstream. He passed his findings on to officials at Australian biopharmaceutical company Synergy Pharmaceuticals, who conducted clinical trials from 2014 – 2017 inclusive. The outcome from the trials proved to be the breakthrough in delivering the long awaited negative IgG results for sufferers. Finally, after years and years of stumbles, false starts, and ethical crises, the medical industry had a cure for herpes. So, why haven’t more professionals supported it?
Synergy Pharmaceuticals and the cure
The results were verified in a series of clinical tests involving randomly selected herpes patients from 2014 – 2017. The patients were tested for the IgG herpes antibody after taking a single natural ingredient and after taking five natural ingredients. There was no noticeable improvement in taking the single-ingredients, but 70% of patients were herpes-free after a few months of the combined five-ingredient treatment.
The five components of Synergy Pharmaceuticals’ Combination Herpes Treatment are L-Lysine, Tribulus, Astragalus, Rhodiola, and a Unique Amino Formula. For the best outcome, patients are instructed to take 1-2 pills of each, every morning for 4-6 months. This treatment stands in stark contrast to standard herpes treatment protocols.
Standard protocol involves one of three types of FDA-approved antiviral medications – acyclovir, valacyclovir, or famciclovir. The medications are then used in one of two therapeutic approaches. In episodic therapy, the patient starts taking their prescribed medication at the first sign of an outbreak. They’ll only continue medicating until the outbreak subsides, which is usually just a few days. In suppressive therapy, patients take antiviral medications every day, which has been shown to reduce outbreaks by 75%.
The Synergy Pharmaceuticals approach is remarkable in that it has a finite treatment period, after which outbreaks, and the virus as a whole, are gone. Patients don’t need to medicate for life.
This is a tremendous breakthrough – permanent relief for herpes sufferers, a huge financial benefit for Synergy, and an even bigger opportunity for any other companies who develop similar treatments. But the medical industry has been slow to celebrate the discovery. Surely, cures for any other formerly incurable virus would be headline news. The reluctance to embrace the herpes treatment could be a side effect of a bigger issue – herpes cure fatigue.
The failure of Rational Vaccines
The closest the medical industry came to a herpes cure was through Rational Vaccines, the brainchild of the late William Halford. Halford created Theravax, a herpes vaccine that effectively eradicated herpes from the bloodstream. One of Halford’s test patients, Richard Mancuso, shared that he was herpes-free after receiving just three shots over a 6-month period. There was tremendous buzz about Halford’s results, and Rational Vaccines rallied support from major backers like billionaire investor Peter Thiel. But Theravax was quickly overshadowed by unethical practices.
A federal investigation was launched in 2018 after the FDA received knowledge that the testing had been conducted without proper oversight. Halford was a respected professor and researcher at Southern Illinois University, but he was not a doctor and injecting patients with a vaccine without the right licensing or credentials was a controversial choice that could have serious legal repercussions. Sadly, Halford passed away from cancer before any conclusions could be drawn. Theravax, once the beacon of light in the search for a herpes cure, was bogged down by controversy. (However, Rational Vaccines’ official website says its research is still ongoing.)
Though Rational Vaccines was the first company to claim discovery of a cure, it wasn’t the first to try. Genocea, a vaccine and immunotherapy company, had promising results with its initial work on the GEN-003 vaccine, but abandoned the program after more involved testing delivered disappointing outcomes. The company also faced its own controversy after one of its investors filed a lawsuit following the program’s dissolution. And biopharmaceutical company Vical Incorporated walked away from its herpes cure research after a similar failure.
Overcoming biases against alternative medicine
Additionally, existing attitudes and biases toward holistic medicine might also have some impact on Synergy’s uphill battle to acclaim. There’s a structure in American medicine that depends on the FDA’s guidance when determining if medication is safe and effective. Though there is a long, ancient history of powerful alternative medicines, and Synergy has verified its results in exhaustive medical trials, the industry is still looking for the one source of validation it recognizes – the FDA stamp of approval.
It’s clear that Synergy Pharmaceuticals has accomplished something revolutionary – a herpes cure that works, that’s affordable and that’s right at the public’s fingertips. What’s lacking is the awareness. There’s a medical industry that has been burned time and time again through failed herpes trials, and it seems unwilling to both move forward and accept that a holistic treatment is the most viable and effective option on the market. The cure is right in front of them; they just have to accept it. A failure to do so means denying millions of herpes sufferers access to lifelong relief. Further information is available at www.treatment4herpes.com