On 10th March 2022 the WHO updated their HSV fact sheet and stated that:

1. An estimated 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 (67%) have HSV-1 globally
2. An estimated 491 million people aged 15-49 (13%) worldwide have HSV-2 infections

This fact sheet also states that:

HSV infections increase the risk of acquiring HIV by approximately three-folds. Other complications include meningoencephilitis, disseminated infections, encephalitis, keratitis as well as neonatal deaths. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/herpes-simplex-virus

There also appears to be evidence that HSV-1 can lead to Alzheimer’s Disease. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20181022-there-is-mounting-evidence-that-herpes-leads-to-alzheimers

These figures are utterly shocking and clearly show a huge unmet medical need for newer therapies. Whilst the complications mentioned above might be rare these conditions might not even occur if we had better treatments available. No new treatment has been made available since 1981.

For this reason I believe it’s time that the medical community acknowledge that for a certain percent of the population HSV isn’t just a “harmless virus” as it’s often portrayed. For many of us contracting the virus has been life altering. It can fuel existing medical conditions and has caused debilitating illness ranging from constant prodromes, nerve damage, anxiety attacks, depression, mental health issues and suicide ideation. Pubmed published a study back in October 2019 to support this theory. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31284079/

I believe that many of us have been failed by the medical community. Starting from inaccurate testing to ineffective treatment and then on to very little after care after diagnosis. It is my opinion that HSV receives less funding and research compared to other STI’s. In fact some patients feel so let down that they’ve resulted into arranging their own crowdfunding efforts.  https://www.insidehook.com/article/sex-and-dating/reddit-group-tracking-herpes-vaccine-research

Many of us no longer respond to current antivirals and are therefore left with no other options. I believe that it’s long and overdue time for some immediate action to take place. I therefore please ask that the following actions are considered:

1. https://www.aicuris.com/ to start testing Pritelivir on members of the public who are ACV-R. This includes testing prolonged suppressive doses on “healthy” patients and not just immunocompromised patients. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03073967
2. https://squarex-pharma.com/ to distribute their SQX770 product as soon as phase 3 is completed. https://squarex-pharma.com/clinical-trials
3. A rare enzyme deficiency drug called Phenylbutyrate (which is already approved by the FDA) may help to lower HSV viral load in conjunction with Aciclovir. This drug needs to be approved for use against HSV as a matter of urgency. Medical guidelines need to be updated to reflect this suggestion. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20201207/Drug-prescribed-for-rare-enzyme-deficiency-shows-promise-to-treat-herpes-viruses.aspx
4. Further studies are made and fast tracked in relation to molecule BX-795. It has the potential to block HSV replication. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32380150/
5. Amenalief is already available in Japan and may be beneficial in treating HSV. This drug needs to be available to HSV sufferers as a matter of urgency. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01959295
6. Companies and Researchers such as GSK https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/, Moderna  https://www.modernatx.com/, Dr Harvey Friedman https://socialfundraising.apps.upenn.edu/socialFundraising/jsp/fast.do?&fastStart=customTemplateByNameOrId&customApplicationNameOrId=HSVresearchfund, X-vax https://x-vax.com/, and Redbiotec https://www.redbiotec.ch/hsv-2/ to consider fast tracking their therapeutic vaccine trials but to also test efficiency on both HSV-1 as well as HSV-2. Research suggest that most new genital cases are acquired via HSV-1. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16648915/
7. Unitedbiopharma to fast track their monoclonal treatment, UB-621. http://unitedbiopharma.com
8. Gene editing solutions and potential cure therapies such as the following: Fred Hutch Cancer  https://research.fredhutch.org/jerome/en.html,  BDGenetherapeutics https://bdgenetherapeutics.com/ and Excision https://www.excision.bio/technology to please consider fast tracking their products if entered into clinical trials.

By asking such companies to work in conjunction with the FDA and fast tracking new treatments I believe thousands if not millions of people could be spared annually from contracting HSV needlessly. Plus it would therefore stop new infections occurring worldwide.

More treatment options should be made available to us and as COVID-19 has shown, vaccines can indeed be produced and administered quickly if need be. I believe that there is a serious need for new treatments to help end this global pandemic. The one antiviral and it’s pro drug that we currently have on offer is quite frankly not good enough. More must be done to help sufferers and indeed future generations. Please act now. 

Thank you.

#HSVNOMORE