"Multiple sclerosis sufferers could be saved from blindness with new drug treatment" is today's headline news and an amazing claim in many newspapers.

"Epilepsy drug treats MS eye problems" says WebMD, one of the strongest online pill merchandisers.

"17th April 2015 -- "A drug designed to prevent epilepsy seizures may also help protect the eyesight of people with multiple sclerosis vision problems, according to new UK research".

In a small trial carried out by University College London, 86 people experiencing early symptoms of acute optic neuritis were given either the epilepsy drug phenytoin, or a placebo or dummy treatment for 3 months.

The aim was to see whether phenytoin could help to protect the light sensing retina nerve layer at the back of the eye.

The claim was "......These are promising results and if our findings are confirmed by larger studies, could lead to a new treatment that protects nerves from the damage caused in both optic neuritis and throughout the central nervous system in MS."

Here is how 'MS Research' jubilantly reports this 'amazing' discovery:

"The Phenytoin study also vindicates a large body of work from many laboratories studying sodium channel blockers as neuro-protective drugs in animal models of MS; ours included. In fact in our animal model Phenytoin was not the best drug, but we went with it as it is the only sodium channel blocker that can be loaded, i.e. you take a large first dose to get the drug levels therapeutic as soon as possible."

"We believe this good news for Relapsing/Remitting and Progressive MSers, as we are cracking that progressive nut. we have tested a hypothesis in animals and now we have done this in humans and it works! [HOORAY!]

.........It is incredibly rewarding when your ideas come to fruition and shows some value to humans and we are incredibly proud of the MD Team. TeamG and UCLP and this story has taken many years of hard work. [Really?]

..........Phenytoin is a generic [present retail cost $0.25 per tablet but the professor cannot let you get away with paying so little for a drug so he continues]...... and it will be difficult to develop but pharma have plenty of new molecules up their sleeve and could do an accelerated drug development process. Maybe this is why Biogen splashed out over $600 million to buy a sodium channel company. Maybe Novartis that makes Oxcarbazeppine have more compounds in their closet."[I can just hear the cash registers clunking - to hell with those branded into 'MS']


"Optic neuritis is considered to be caused by the body's defence against infection, the immune system is thought to attack your body's own tissue" is the usual scam mantra.

This has never been proved and is pure speculation if not an outright concoction.


Optic neuritis has more to do with the tension in the basi-occiput than any other reason. Please read this article on another eye condition called Visual Snow, a far more serious condition.

Medicine has neither an answer for 'Visual Snow' nor an answer for 'Optic Neuritis'. Drugs do not cure problems where the underlying cause is PHYSICAL.
Also be extremely cautious of other sodium channel blockers which are probably on the way to assault the SPMS patients...!

A patient previously labelled with 'MS' just wrote:
"yes - you're right. MS is the perfect excuse to sell all those `maybe' drugs. what a perfect scam.

I had optic neuritis for about 3 weeks in 2002 and it went away - my good eye became my bad eye so probably did a little permanent damage but rather that then be a guinea pig for who knows what!!!!"

Another ex 'MS' patient writes:
"I went totally blind in my left eye for 6 weeks and I did not take anything for it, eyesight returned on its own except for some colour perception loss but good enough to drive my car without glasses. My optician tells me he can see no damage to my optic nerves.

She also adds:
"Phenytoin must be the drug of the moment. I have a friend who has brain cancer, they put him on phenytoin and now he cannot walk!"
She further reports:
"I noticed today my post and your blog link have been removed from MSSociety Facebook page.

I have asked them, "MS Society why have you deleted my post? On 22nd April I posted a comment about the Epilepsy drug phenytoin which was recently trialed in optic neuritis research. I hope you are not up to your old tricks and deleting posts that don't fit in with you and your sponsors' agenda like you did with comments from the proponents of CCSVI in recent years."

PS. The MS Society purportedly funded this futile Phenytoin research study with your charitable donations. The embarrassment must be dreadful!

On reading this blog a very senior Executive nurse writes:
"Have met many patients over the years that have had to come off phenytoin due to awful side effects!!"
Update: The newspaper the Guardian reports
"Pfizer fined record £84.2m over NHS overcharging
The pharmaceutical company Pfizer has been fined a record £84.2m by the UK’s competition regulator after the price charged to the NHS for an anti-epilepsy drug was increased by up to 2,600%.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), issuing its biggest fine, said the “extraordinary price rises have cost the NHS and the taxpayer tens of millions of pounds”.
The CMA also fined the drugs distributor Flynn Pharma £5.2m for charging excessive and unfair prices in the UK for phenytoin sodium capsules, which are used by an estimated 48,000 epilepsy patients in the UK to prevent and control seizures.
The fines follow an overnight price increase for the drug of up to 2,600%, after it was deliberately debranded, the CMA said. Pfizer makes the drug and sells it to Flynn, which in turn sells it to the NHS.
The amount the NHS was charged for 100mg packs of the drug was increased from £2.83 to £67.50 before being reduced to £54 from May 2014. As a result, the amount the NHS spent on phenytoin sodium capsules rocketed from about £2m a year in 2012 to £50m in 2013.
The CMA also found that Pfizer, was charging a far higher price for the anti-epilepsy drug in the UK than in any other European country. "
Comment:
Please remember that this drug presently retails at $0.25 per tablet in the USA. A price of £54 agreed by the NHS is still scandalous. This is 270 times higher than the USA and in fact 27,000% higher.
The story does not end here, Imagine having the misfortune of suffering from epilepsy and being prescribed Phenytoin and ending up with serious complications as described above.
The patients then become a total burden upon their families and society apart from totally destroying their own lives.
Phenytoin is being pushed for use in many other conditions because of the big lolly they make from this useless and dangerous drug.
Who in the NHS agreed a fee of £54 from a previous fee of £2.83? This needs investigation.
Why can the NHS not use generics? The NHS is a huge cash cow to rob. You only need to convince a couple of buyers and you have 48,000 ready made customers!
How about the police investigating these scams?