Health officials here moved on Thursday to dismiss any notion that the Bahamas will tolerate unregulated medical treatments, as international press reports said that a mother from Scotland, given 15 months to live, was headed here for experimental medical procedures.
Debbie Christie, 34, was last year diagnosed with a debilitating motor neurone disease and according to a report in the Evening Times in Glasgow, she is depending on a new drug treatment to help her spend a few extra months with her children.
The treatment involves peptide, said to be extracted from cobra venom.
But officials in the Ministry of Health said they are not familiar with any official request for the peptide treatment, which is not approved in the United States nor the United Kingdom.
Christie was given 15 months to live in December.
This case and others involving stem cell and other alternative treatments that were offered at the IAT Immuno Augmentative Therapy Bahamas Ltd. in Freeport have bolstered concerns about clandestine medical work in the Bahamas.
More specifically, it has stirred anxieties that the Bahamas is gaining a reputation as a country where physicians are coming to do research that is banned elsewhere.
Health Minister Senator Dr. Marcus Bethel warned against this in no uncertain terms Thursday.
ﾓThe Bahamas is not a playground for research that is not approved and we continue to develop very stringent guidelines and will continue to do so because it is the Ministry of Healthﾴs responsibility to protect and preserve the publicﾴs safety,ﾒ he said.
All researchers who want to operate in the Bahamas are required to file an application with the Ministry of Health and have their proposal reviewed by the Ethics Committee.
Chief Medical Officer Dr. Merceline Dahl-Regis said the credentials of the applicant are also an important consideration.
ﾓAll research for experimental drugs have to have Ministry of Health approval,ﾒ Dr. Dahl-Regis said. ﾓBut any investigator who has done research anywhere knows that the process is that [the proposal] has to be reviewed by an accrediting body before you can embark on any investigation.ﾒ
She said she was not familiar with the peptide treatment for motor neurone disease but acknowledged that there has been ﾓa number of research requests.ﾒ ﾠ
Dr. Bethel said the Bahamas has, over the years, been sifting through requests from individuals who want to conduct research that is not approved in the United States and Canada.
There is no cure for motor neurone disease that progressively destroys the nerves.
According to press reports, Mrs. Christie and her family heard about drug trials being held in the Bahamas and were told that there was a chance for increased life expectancy and a reduction of the symptoms of the disease.
There was no mention of exactly where the treatment is reportedly being offered.
“I’ll know if the drug has worked on the first day because I should start to see a difference,ﾒ Ms. Christie told the Evening Times, which assisted her with raising money to fund the treatment, with only days to go before the deadline to book a place on the trials.
She said: “If I hadn’t managed to get there for this round of trials it would have been too late for the drug to have any effect.”
The resident of Girdle Toll, Irvine discovered she had the disease after having a heart attack in March, which doctors told her was unrelated to the illness.
Her heart physiotherapist noticed she was recovering much slower than she should have and tests revealed she had the illness.
PhyloMed, a Plantation, Florida biopharmaceutical company founded in 1983, had claimed to have synthesized a harmless peptide (a small protein) from the venom of a Thailand cobra. The peptide would act as a kind of decoy during attacks by immune system cells on myelin – the fatty material surrounding nerve fibers which in some cases cause lesions and paralysis.
Neurotoxins from cobra venom paralyze nerve cells in much the same way.
According to the company, by binding to nerve cell receptors as a modified peptide instead of as a toxin, the venom-derived drug, called Immunokine, morphs into a therapeutic agent that can reverse debilitating effects of Multiple Sclerosis, for instance.
The company claimed to have spent $6 million in research and development.
Tameka Lundy, The Bahama Journal
