Review abstract:
Chronic fatigue syndrome/ Myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a poorly understood seriously debilitating disorder in which disabling fatigue is an universal symptom in combination with a variety of variable symptoms.
The only drug in advanced clinical development is rintatolimod, a mismatched double stranded polymer of RNA (dsRNA). [aka Ampligen]
Rintatolimod is a restricted Toll-Like Receptor 3 (TLR3) agonist lacking activation of other primary cellular inducers of innate immunity (e.g.- cytosolic helicases). Rintatolimod also activates interferon induced proteins that require dsRNA for activity (e.g.- 2′-5′ adenylate synthetase, protein kinase R).
Rintatolimod has achieved statistically significant improvements in primary endpoints in Phase II and Phase III double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials with a generally well tolerated safety profile and supported by open-label trials in the United States and Europe.
The chemistry, mechanism of action, clinical trial data, and current regulatory status of rintatolimod for CFS/ME including current evidence for etiology of the syndrome are reviewed.
Efficacy of rintatolimod in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome/ myalgic encephalomyelitis (cfs/me), by WM Mitchell in Expert Review of Clinical Pharmacology, 5 April 2016 [Epub ahead of print]
Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology, Vanderbilt University.
