Jerry Silver, PhD Professor Department of Neurosciences School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University
READ THE FULL ABSTRACT HERE: LINK
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION LINKS ABOUT DR. JERRY SILVER
ADDITONAL LINKS ABOUT DR. WARREN ALILAIN
Functional Regeneration Beyond the Glial Scar
January 15, 2015
Frohring Auditorium, Room 105, Biomedical Research Building Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
Presented by: Cleveland FES Center and APT Center
SPINAL CORD INJURY RESEARCH AND SCIENCE 
People could also note that for realization of this research to eliminate paralysis in people, EVERYTHING will depend upon the fundraising work and perseverance of the paralyzed patients and their families in helping the U.K. charity called Spinal Research to bring chondroitinase (Chase) to the clinic. Thankfully the Spinal Research charity (which receives no government funding) has put patients before profits and is sponsoring a large animal trial to show efficacy which is nearing completion. The trial will bring us one step closer to eliminating the decades old bottleneck from not having the “scar busting” enzyme therapy for paralysis. They call this project Chase It.
Unfortunately, for decades the Acorda company acquired a plethora of chondroitinase patents and then quietly abandoned it’s research and development without notice many years ago to pursue mass distribution of their MS drug called Ampyra instead of investing in the chondroitinase enzyme for clinical use in patients with spinal cord injuries. Perhaps it’s a good time for the Acorda company to think about paying it forward and make their donation (the unusued patent collection) to the UK spinal cord injury charity. I think it’s an especially good idea since the vast majority of all the research used to acquire those patents in the first place were mainly funded by the governments of the UK and USA along with the unsuspecting paralysis community left patiently waiting and trusting their company press releases when the company was actually fleeing at high speed in search of even bigger and better drug profits than Ampyra has aleady given their shareholders and company officials. Shame on Acorda for putting their “Profits before Patients” and abandoning the paralysis community for millions of the $1,500 monthly Ampyra prescriptions.
Nothing like holding paralyzed people for ransom. Thanks for the misery Acorda.
I think this is one of the most promising avenues to treatment. It boggles my mind that we are still waiting. This seems criminal.
Too much time was wasted chasing the big name super hero carnival barker characters around and watching them form teams and captains of paralyzed people to put money in their own damn pockets instead of taking care of this serious business. It’s time the community lends it voice and financial support to Spinal Research in the U.K. so we can get this done once and for all. Sadly it was a pathetic snafu for decades and still continues to this day for paralyzed people that are enticed into such silliness for wasting their time and donations on whole lot of nothing but smoke and mirrors along with big CEO salaries. All the internet jaw flapping and hand wringing over a keyboard won’t result in a seriously good therapy.
I agree.
I don’t agree that speaking about it on the Internet will not result in a good therapy. If people are not aware – then they won’t know how to act or inform others. I’ll need to take some time to research the non-profit that you mentioned.
I also think that you should include the people who chased around non-profits for years and that they need to face the same questions that the researchers to. Nonprofits must be held accountable. They give power to the researchers.
I’m guilty of following big-name superhero characters (I believed a non-profit) – because we are talking about a very complex problem and it takes a very long amount of time to understand whether something is snake oil. anonymous – why are you anonymous?
Hey there C.C. I didn’t get an account set up yet so the small box says default anonymous. It’s ok since nothing I comment on here is of any future consequence anyway. I’m just typing stuff out of boredom. You must be a very fresh injury since you’ve never heard of Spinal Research in the United Kingdom.
All the problems have always been too complex. Maybe we just need more waiting time to see what’s the best snake oil and then look at the hundreds of sci non-profits to see what they are working on. Someone should even get busy making up a few lists of therapies and sci orgs to write to but I’m not interested in wading through needless mundane tasks like that. Honestly, that’s not a SCI problem nor what is lacking. These various little SCI groups have chosen tons of worthy efforts to work toward and raise money for. Many supply wheelchairs and equipment to those that are in need, some work on disability legislation, more work on quality of life endeavors, one works on research education for the community and then some even manage to fund a sprinkling of various research projects.
Heck, there’s nothing wrong with any of those items that people are working on. Surely you don’t think people in the SCI groups owe you something! There isn’t a cure for them to hand over to you. One may not like their various missions but that’s not up to anyone else to try to boss and bully them around and demand things they cannot produce to satisfy every whim and wild idea that comes along. Nothing would ever get accomplished if people try to cause a scorched earth policy against everything they do rather than promoting and doing positive things. There isn’t enough money or people to do everything that is needed. That’s life. For an example, what are you and I contributing other than hot air and disgruntled musings?
Researchers are not translators of their science project successes and don’t have the necessary skill sets. Their “power” is as strong as the worms and mice they experiment on. Even the ones experimenting on humans are clueless on how to translate the science to the people. Ask the super hero worshiper’s after 15 million donated dollars and 60 more months of research how that is going to help you on Christmas day in 2020. They don’t have any idea or plan one. They never did. It’s nothing more than a whole new fancy gig to keep their salaries and line of research going in a bloated lab. You can be assured of that, it’s how it works. They did appropriately name it “another Big Idea”. I was entertained by their sense of humor in naming it!
Non-profits groups have never given magical “power” to any researcher. They have none to give! You don’t see any cure dust sprinkled on the crowd do you? Ask them how to get a simple therapy to the clinic and you’ll see the entire herd turn to deer in the headlights. That’s not the fault of non-profits that are working on promoting good science. If you think so, your mind is in a fantasy mode and you’re chasing yet another lost cause. Academia university teachers have never been given the job description that you envision. They don’t stand in front of their classes and declare a cure paralysis goal to their students. Students are likely there only to do cool lab stuff and get degrees. The majority of their day is spent writing for grant funding and papers to be published for the classroom/lab on campus to survive another day, month or year. They would have no idea why you would come along and think they need to be held accountable or owe you something. What did they ever do to you? They’re not the ones that paralyzed you there buddy. Your sense of entitlement totally baffles me! How many scientists in the world have you approached with that attitude? There will be no successful cures or treatments gained from a bully pulpit. You’re the militant type dude?
It sounds like I’m turning into a internet whiner and I detest that feeling. I’m done now since I’ve never subscribed to the notion that paralyzed people need to waste time playing the blame game on the internet and attempting to destroy every advocacy effort known to man. That’s generally what a dimmer light dreams up to pass the time of day. I defer to others with brighter lights than myself.
Best of luck to the ongoing work of Dr. Silver and the ISRT.
Interesting thoughts there anonymous! Thanks for stopping by to post your thoughts guys.