It has taken hundreds of years and billions of people being infected for there to finally be a ray of light in the herpes simplex virus field. A recent study at the Virology, Emerging Diseases & vaccines conference in Canada benchmarked a discovery in the battle to overcome herpes. All be it a natural protocol, it brings with it new hope that could be the long awaited game changer. The protocol produced by Synergy Pharmaceuticals has been able to show promising results across the general population.
Critically important is how well it compares to the standard antiviral medications, involving one of three types of FDA-approved medications – acyclovir, valacyclovir, or famciclovir. For those suffering from herpes the medications are 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 the severity of outbreaks by 70%.
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 Combination Herpes Treatment could be a side effect of a bigger issue – opposition to natural medicine.
The HSV story of vaccines so far
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.
The alternative medicine great debate
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 sufferer’s access to lifelong relief.
This article was written in cooperation with Synergy Pharmaceuticals