SEEKING SOLUTIONS FOR ME AND FIBROMYALGIA

Hope 4 ME & Fibro Northern Ireland

Cost: £35 (CPD ACCREDITED)

SEEKING SOLUTIONS FOR ME AND FIBROMYALGIA

To find out much more about the Norwegian research, other biomedical research developments in ME/CFS, and the controversy surrounding graded exercise therapy as a treatment for ME/CFS, secure a place now by booking early for this unique opportunity!

The Long Gallery, Stormont Buildings.

EVENTBRITE BOOKING LINK HERE: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seeking-solutions-for-me-fibromyalgia-tickets-31851522762

Speakers:

Linda Tannenbaum MB. CEO of Open Medicine Foundation (USA) on “Research Hope for ME & Fibromyalgia”

Professor Olav Mella. Bergen University Hospital (Norway) on “Rituximab – Treatment for the future?”

Dr William Weir FRCP, FRCP (Edin) Consultant Physician (UK) “ME & fibromyalgia: History, politics and the need for change”

David Tuller, DrPH (USA) “The UK PACE Trial: An exploration of the 'evidence' for graded exercise therapy for ME”

Dr Christine McMaster, Consultant in the Public Health Agency (NI) “ME & Fibromyalgia Care in Northern Ireland – Recent Developments”

The event will be chaired by our charity patron Jo-Anne Dobson.

'Seeking Solutions for ME and Fibromyalgia' has been approved by the Federation of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom for 3 category 1 (external) CPD credit(s).

Key Note Speaker: Professor Olav Mella
Head of Department of Oncology Haukeland University Hospital,
University of Bergen, Norway.

Find out how two Norwegian Cancer specialists have come to be at the centre of a major research programme into Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and how their research has caused a seismic shift in the way ME/CFS is viewed.

The story starts in 2004 when, together with his colleague Dr. Øystein Fluge (Chief Physician in the Department of Oncology), Professor Mella observed that a patient’s ME/CFS symptoms improved substantially while undergoing chemotherapy treatment for a concurrent diagnosis of lymphoma. This observation led the oncologists to carry out some small studies in ME/CFS patients using the B-cell depleting monoclonal antibody, Rituximab and they published peer reviewed articles in 2009 and 2011 with the results.

The positive results of these studies have now lead to a large national, randomised, double-blind and placebo controlled multicentre phase III study using Rituximab in patients with ME/CFS. The results are expected early in 2018. A smaller phase II study investigating the effect of treatment with the chemotherapy drug Cyclophosphamide is also in progress.

With their now expanded ME/CFS research team at the oncology department they are presently also looking at other research areas including in: biochemistry, immunology, cell metabolism, genetics, and autoimmunity. Blood vessel endothelial functioning, exercise and gastrointestinal sub-studies are also being carried out. The researchers have even conducted three autopsies of people who suffered from the ME/CFS. The purpose of this research is to identify disease mechanisms and biomarkers for the illness.