No more apologies

I’m done apologizing.

I’m done asking for sympathy.

I’m done describing myself as the outlier or a contrarian.

I’m done letting a Parkinson’s expert – scientist or clinician – dissuade me from following the data.

I’m a real doc, a real scientist, a real drug developer and most importantly, a real patient advocate.

Until now, when I pitched for funding, I’d call myself a contrarian. Sometimes I’d share the story of a Parkinson’s expert who objected to my approach for safety reasons, but then was unwilling to look at the data that made the FDA comfortable with us starting a clinical trial. Sometimes I’d tell the story about pitching a Parkinson’s expert who told me to go back to cardiology.

Today is the last time I share those experiences or let others tell me I am pursuing the wrong path.

Why? Because I know how to look at and analyze data with an open mind and see possibilities. That’s how I saw a therapeutic target no one else could see, and identified a drug to address it. And because the data supporting the promise of Right Brains’s RB-190 are as strong or stronger than for any drug therapy. That’s why I believe the data say that our approach is likely to work.

The nay-sayers? They are the outliers. They are fighting against a great idea supported by strong data. They are the contrarians. Instead of pursuing all options to conquer Parkinson’s, they choose to embrace the approach that fails time after time – dating back to the 1970s. And while rarely admitted, accepting dopaminergic therapy as state of the art is equivalent to accepting that palliative therapy is good enough. 

Current treatments are not good enough.

I believe the Michael J. Fox Foundation sees the wisdom in funding this project. But I am not so confidant their reviewers will – experts who adopted and continue to endorse dopaminergic therapies for PD.

How can you help? Tell your friends about this ground-breaking science. Tell your doctors about this ground-breaking science. There is more than hope on the horizon. Join the effort to spread the word. By mobilizing the masses we can affect change. And our approach is the change we need.