Halford raises nearly $1M in 2015.

[throwawayday345]

http://whalewisdom.com/filer/rational-vaccines-inc

Halford's newly formed company Rational Vaccines, Inc. has raised nearly one million this year. 

[StayingUpbeat]

Very interesting find.  He mentions in one of his blog posts that it cost 1 million to by the patent rights to his vaccine but its good to hear that money is "real."

 

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[Sanguine108]

awesome news.   I don't understand why a million is so hard to scrape up in this day and age. Maybe we start fueling some propaganda that hsv leads to cancer to get some money siphoned over here.   So much money goes into cancer research and it's not even the cause of the problem.

It's like the field of Embryonic Origins of Adult Diseases, nobody gives a hoot until they have some condition later on.  Mama doesn't think drinking soda, eating processed garbage, smoking cigarettes and/or doing psychedelics is a problem until her child comes out being something special...

but bravo Halford!

[zzzqzzz]

Very exciting news, I posted a similar link to this one recently.

 

One reason to rally for Halford is that he has what appears to be a genuine desire to bring his vaccine to the clinic AS FAST AS POSSIBLE. From his blog, it sounds like he will be getting the vaccine approved in a country other than the U.S. which will expedite the development and allow him to dodge the ~$1B hurdle of bringing a drug to the market through the FDA. If I had to guess as to where he might carry out trials, I would guess Mexico because a) it is close to the U.S. and easy to travel to and b) the only other live herpes vaccine ever tested in humans took place in Mexico

[tom343]

Great stuff. Hopefully he'll get more and more funding. 

[Evaluate]

Thanks for sharing.  It's great to see some real fund progress towards getting off the ground with his vaccine.  It still has a ways to go though!

[Juggalo]

Halford is hardcore scientist.

[herpes-sucks]

$1m ?  Big deal.  Halford could have gotten more money by going on Shark Tank. Lol

Don't you think that if Halford really had something significant, one of the pharma or biotech companies would have been knocking his door down to acquire the rights to his "secret potion" ?  People talk like there is some big conspiracy to keep his "secret potion" undeveloped. 

[Sanguine108]

$1m ?  Big deal.  Halford could have gotten more money by going on Shark Tank. Lol

Don't you think that if Halford really had something significant, one of the pharma or biotech companies would have been knocking his door down to acquire the rights to his "secret potion" ?  People talk like there is some big conspiracy to keep his "secret potion" undeveloped. 

The science world has a big ego and they may legit think halford doesn't know anything and dismiss his work.

Frasier is lucky bc he is associated w a med center research development situation,  the yeshiva univ is in a similar situation.

cullen and bloom are basic science type ppl and don't have that therapeutic background momentum like the medical center associated ones.

or halford just isn't old enough to have as much street cred to get funding just like that.  Lot of scientists out there wanting grant money support.    

[herpes-sucks]

The science world has a big ego and they may legit think halford doesn't know anything and dismiss his work.

Frasier is lucky bc he is associated w a med center research development situation,  the yeshiva univ is in a similar situation.

cullen and bloom are basic science type ppl and don't have that therapeutic background momentum like the medical center associated ones.

or halford just isn't old enough to have as much street cred to get funding just like that.  Lot of scientists out there wanting grant money support.    

Sure there are big egos but even as Genocea promotes Gen-003 as a "blockbuster" $1 billion drug.... that only reduces the symptoms by 58%, my point is that if Halford had the real deal a company would pounce on this just based on the monetary potential for a real cure.

[zzzqzzz]

Sure there are big egos but even as Genocea promotes Gen-003 as a "blockbuster" $1 billion drug.... that only reduces the symptoms by 58%, my point is that if Halford had the real deal a company would pounce on this just based on the monetary potential for a real cure.

no one knows if halford has the real deal because his vaccine has never been tested in humans.  I'm sure there are many factors that go into the decision made by a pharmaceutical company to sponsor a concept beyond just potential efficacy (cost of treatment, safety concerns, etc.), and it is silly to think that a lack of sponsorship implies a lack of merit.      

[HopefulOne2013]

Halford just needs to make it happen. Enough with talking about it. The medical research behind HSV is passing him by. His sales pitch is stale.

[herpes-sucks]

no one knows if halford has the real deal because his vaccine has never been tested in humans.  I'm sure there are many factors that go into the decision made by a pharmaceutical company to sponsor a concept beyond just potential efficacy (cost of treatment, safety concerns, etc.), and it is silly to think that a lack of sponsorship implies a lack of merit.      

I do not know for certian, but it does seem that the majority of pharmaceutical and biotech companies are solely interested in profit.  If there is money to be made, they're in. If they fail, they get clobbered.  Look at the beating Genocea took today due to a failed test/trial. So it's risk vs. reward. That's why I don't think Halford has the goods. If he did, someone would snatch it up and bring it to market.  Again if people are talking blockbuster for a 58% reduction, what revenue could a true cure bring in ?

[zzzqzzz]

Halford just needs to make it happen. Enough with talking about it. The medical research behind HSV is passing him by. His sales pitch is stale.

halford is making it happen (re: this post)

I do not know for certian, but it does seem that the majority of pharmaceutical and biotech companies are solely interested in profit.  If there is money to be made, they're in. If they fail, they get clobbered.  Look at the beating Genocea took today due to a failed test/trial. So it's risk vs. reward. That's why I don't think Halford has the goods. If he did, someone would snatch it up and bring it to market.  Again if people are talking blockbuster for a 58% reduction, what revenue could a true cure bring in ?

are you surprised by the fact that companies are interested in profit? by definition, companies aim to make profits.  often, companies and ceo's of companies form rhetoric about their work and try and put a face on the money, and sometimes it is genuine, but in the end, companies are doing what they do for profit.  if not, they would be non-profits -- not companies.

 

 

[throwawayday345]

You guys are crazy if you don't think that something is afoot with Halford's vaccine after raising a million in one year. 

[Sanguine108]

Things take time.  If you don't have something to do or work on to pass the time then that should be a priority.

I don't fuss about why plants aren't flowering in the winter.  Just be patient.  It takes time for energy and resources to be gathered.  Some organisms take longer than other to really blossom.   But don't expect everything to be of the mentality and timeline of a fruit-fly in heat.

When the stakes are this high and there are egos and profits are on the line then you gotta work safe and sure-footed.  These scientists are working hard with what they got and things on the material plane go very slow. God, especially in the under funded lab setting.

Edited October 20, 2015 by Sanguine108

[Juggalo]

Just look at the HSV529 vaccine, which is in trials. It is backed by large pharma and the only reasons that it is out in the clinical trials is:

1) David Knipe, scientist behind HSV529 got more experience years / street cred / works at a better university
2) His vaccine is more crippled (possibly less effective) than Halfords live vaccine, so people fear the resident evil scenario happening with Halfords vaccine without even testing it out

I suppose the effectivness in suppressing symptoms of HSV in individuals would in the distant future go like:

Halfords vaccine > HSV-529 vaccine or Albert Einstein College of Medicine vaccine > Ian Frazers vaccine > Genoceas GEN-003 vaccine

 

Edited October 20, 2015 by Juggalo

[HopefulOne2013]

halford is making it happen (re: this post)

are you surprised by the fact that companies are interested in profit? by definition, companies aim to make profits.  often, companies and ceo's of companies form rhetoric about their work and try and put a face on the money, and sometimes it is genuine, but in the end, companies are doing what they do for profit.  if not, they would be non-profits -- not companies.

 

 

A lot has happened in the last 3 years. Genocea started their trial for HSV and are on to a phase 3 trial next year. Admedus is currently wrapping up their phase 2 trial with interim results by the end of the year. David Knipe's vaccine is in a phase 1 trial with the NIH. Many other companies are entering the race for an HSV vaccine. Bill Halford is still writing a blog which isn't exactly progress. He needs to move faster. 

[herpes-sucks]

You guys are crazy if you don't think that something is afoot with Halford's vaccine after raising a million in one year. 

I have seen people raise more money on Shark Tank. Lol.

$1 million is no big deal especially if Genocea thinks their Gen-003 (with only a 58% reduction) could be a blockbuster and generate $1 billion.  

I understand wanting to be hopeful, but I just don't get the seemingly blind optimism that this guy has the secret cure, but no one will give him the funds needed to get it tested and to market. 

[Sanguine108]

Majority of the time, the people w all the money are not scientists.

[bayern77]

So does Halford promise a cure? or functional cure? for those already infected? or is it to prevent getting hsv?

[lexyz22]

Just look at the HSV529 vaccine, which is in trials. It is backed by large pharma and the only reasons that it is out in the clinical trials is:

1) David Knipe, scientist behind HSV529 got more experience years / street cred / works at a better university
2) His vaccine is more crippled (possibly less effective) than Halfords live vaccine, so people fear the resident evil scenario happening with Halfords vaccine without even testing it out

I suppose the effectivness in suppressing symptoms of HSV in individuals would in the distant future go like:

Halfords vaccine > HSV-529 vaccine or Albert Einstein College of Medicine vaccine > Ian Frazers vaccine > Genoceas GEN-003 vaccine

 

You cant say that here, everyone thinks Genocea > Ian Frazer

[herpes-sucks]

You cant say that here, everyone thinks Genocea > Ian Frazer

I wish I understood why people so blindly tout Halford and think that his potential treatment is the best.... when it hasn't even undergone human trials and no biotech or pharma company seems interested in partnering with him or providing funding.  Again, I point out that if Genocea thinks their 58% reduction treatment is a blockbuster with $1 billion revenue potential, that if Halford had a true treatment or cure, regardless of "street cred" a major company would see the profit potential and either acquire the treatment or collaborate with him in the trials.

[vzhe]

@herpes-sucks: For those of us working in biotech the answer is pretty simple: Ask any immunologist or virologist, and they'd agree that no subunit vaccine has ever created an immune response within an order of magnitude as potent as a live vaccine would. We also know that it is fairly straightforward to attenuate Herpesvirii. It's been done commercially for Varicella, and previously with AuRX for HSV, and experimentally but successfully for CMV. Given all the animal data Halford has published, to a scientist there's no evidence whatsoever that indicates that his vaccine wouldn't work. We know how live vaccines work, and we know that they do work. So given the data, and the mental model to reason about the data, what makes you think that any of the usual rules of immunology or virology don't apply to his vaccine? 

Edited October 21, 2015 by vzhe

[herpes-sucks]

@herpes-sucks: For those of us working in biotech the answer is pretty simple: Ask any immunologist or virologist, and they'd agree that no subunit vaccine has ever created an immune response within an order of magnitude as potent as a live vaccine would. We also know that it is fairly straightforward to attenuate Herpesvirii. It's been done commercially for Varicella, and previously with AuRX for HSV, and experimentally but successfully for CMV. Given all the animal data Halford has published, to a scientist there's no evidence whatsoever that indicates that his vaccine wouldn't work. We know how live vaccines work, and we know that they do work. So given the data, and the mental model to reason about the data, what makes you think that any of the usual rules of immunology or virology don't apply to his vaccine? 

I don't know the "usual rules of immunology or virology". My only point or question continues to be - for the blind faith that this Halford guy has the "cure" - why can't he get any major Pharma or Biotech to fund him or partner, and get this into trials ?