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397 lines
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(word processor parameters LM=8, RM=75, TM=2, BM=2)
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Taken from KeelyNet BBS (214) 324-3501
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Sponsored by Vangard Sciences
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PO BOX 1031
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Mesquite, TX 75150
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There are ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTIONS
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on duplicating, publishing or distributing the
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files on KeelyNet except where noted!
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September 2, 1993
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PAPIMI.ASC
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This file shared with KeelyNet courtesy of Ray Berry.
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Dr. Frome's One-Hour Aids Cure?
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by Joe Seldner
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from 'Los Angeles Magazine', July, 1993
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It looks like some makeshift gizmo out of Mr. Wizard: a wooden box,
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about the size of a steamer trunk, slapped together with one red and
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one green plastic button and one small plate of glass on top. Then
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there's that garden hose-like thing, wrapped in black electrical
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tape with a loop on the end, coming out the side.
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But it works like something out of Frankenstein. You know, where the
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grotesque patchwork cadaver is hooked up to a glob of wires, then
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hoisted to the very top of the laboratory during a frightening
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storm, where it's pummeled by bolts of lightning until it comes to
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life. Someone surely had a perverse sense of humor to nickname the
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PAP-IMI-300 "Lightning in a Box."
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Although it was initially designed to treat cancer and is currently
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used to bring relief from pain, what PAP-IMI may--and that's an
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emphatic may--be is another kind of giver of life, one in the
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treatment of AIDS.
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It must be stated up front that no one, including its prime
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advocate, physician-pain specialist-lawyer entrepreneur Bruce Frome,
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is claiming Lightning in a Box is a cure for AIDS. Nor is there any
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medical data on what exactly the machine does. But Frome--and the
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patients who have come to him to be electrically charged by this
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oddly primitive device certainly believes in its potential.
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"If I had AIDS, I'd get this treatment," says Frome, whose many
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attributes don't include humility. After all, it was he who--as he
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puts it, simply and unabashedly-"changed the photo industry" as the
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founder of Fromex, the one-hour photo-processing shops that continue
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to dot the local strip-mall landscape, even though he no longer has
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anything to do with them. But Frome's lack of modesty is matched
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only by his patients' unwavering faith in him.
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"It makes them feel better," he says "probably prolongs their lives,
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Page 1
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certainly improves the quality of their lives and gets rid of a
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great many opportunistic infections" that might otherwise kill them.
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If this sounds like a medical claim, it isn't, insists Frome. In
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fact, as he and his colleagues at his Westwood-based International
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Pain Research Institute await permission from the Food and Drug
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Administration to conduct three-month clinical trials with the PAP-
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IMI on more than 80 AIDS patients, at this point there is only
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anecdotal evidence from patients to support the curative powers of
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the machine.
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Because the debate over AIDS treatment is, if you'll pardon the
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expression, so highly charged, people involved in potential modes of
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treatment choose their words carefully.
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The actual inventor of the PAP-IMI, Panos Pappas, a 44 year-old
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Greek physicist now on sabbatical from the Technological Educational
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Institute in Athens and based at Frome's institute, describes in
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energetic detail how his machine functions, but
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he stops short of fanciful conjecture about its applications.
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A short, balding man with a thick accent, Pappas says the machine--
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which he invented in 1988 with the intention of using it to treat
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cancer cells--is ''like an electrical storm... that changes the
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coding of the HIV virus." According to the thick document submitted
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to the FDA, the PAP-IMI "induces an electric current that disperses
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electric charges or ionic concentrations inside biological tissue of
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the affected organ," causing "beneficial biochemical changes."
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In overly simplistic laymen's terms, that means it charges the
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cell's battery, making it better able to fight the common infections
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associated with AIDS, such as herpes, diarrhea and pneumonia.
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An expert in the study of lightning, Pappas, who holds patents on
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many devices, including ones that protect ammunition depots from
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lightning strikes, notes that "lightning created proteins before
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life existed on this planet." He insists his machine can reduce
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pain, make hair grow and make wrinkles go away, all through its
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regenerative powers. When asked whether he would use it on himself
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to grow hair, he seemed surprised, replying, "Directly on my head?"
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He did recover enough to say he would be willing to do so at
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frequencies lower than the 22,000 volts used on patients.
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When pressed about its AIDS potential, in fact, Pappas tends to
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defer with a "you need to ask Dr. Frome about that." Since Frome is
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providing money, office space and exposure for Pappas--now
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officially a "consultant" at the clinic, working on further
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applications of the PAP-IMI-- the deference is understandable.
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Still, there is also something in his demeanor that says, "Look,
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I hope this does what everyone wants it to do, but I'm just a
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lightning expert, okay?"
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Despite his hubris, Bruce Frome is a likable fellow, flitting from
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room to room in surgical greens that do little to hide his
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prosperous midsection, a kind of swaggering Pillsbury
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Doughboy.
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His office is a tiny, cluttered, windowless chamber in the middle of
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the clinic's first floor. In fact, much of the clinic, which just
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opened in January, still has the feeling of a household living out
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Page 2
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of boxes. The waiting room, though sparsely furnished, is awash in
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a sea of diplomas and declarations.
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Overachievement is something of an avocation for Frome. In addition
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to an array of medical credentials, including a medical degree in
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1962 from the University of Manitoba and a stint as head of
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anesthesiology at Daniel Freeman-Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey,
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the Canada native holds a law degree (University of West Los
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Angeles), a doctorate in health management (Kennedy-Western
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University) and is--yes--a licensed real estate agent.
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The story of how Frome founded his revolutionary photo house,
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Fromex, like the virtues of his PAP-IMI device, depends on whom you
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ask. His version has it that in 1979, executives from the Japanese
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company Noritsu "came to me" with the breakthrough photo-processing
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technology in hopes of getting a U.S. foothold. Asked why they
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came to a Los Angeles doctor, he repeats his mantra: "I was known to
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be an innovative guy."
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However, reports published at the time state that a relative of
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Frome's saw the technology at a Canadian trade show. When Frome
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heard about it, he was intrigued and went to Noritsu. Wherever the
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truth lies, what is not disputed is that Frome opened the first
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storefront operation of Fromex that year in Encino with his capital
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and their technology. ("I was the only one in the world at that
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time.") Quickly--perhaps too quickly--he sold franchises across the
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country. He fondly recalls leaving Daniel Freeman on Thursday
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nights, "taking the red-eye somewhere, finding a lease and opening
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up a store."
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The company was undercapitalized, and three years and 108 stores
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later, the bankrupt concern was sold to a New York businessman, who
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retained the Fromex name. Frome is proud of the fact that during
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all of his other ventures, "I never stopped practicing medicine,"
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and continued as chief of anesthesiology at Daniel Freeman. But, he
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says, "most anesthesiologists don't like talking to people--that's
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why they go into it in the first place." And Frome wanted to
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concentrate on treating patients' pain, not on putting them under.
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So in 1987, he opened his first pain clinic, the Marina Pain Center
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in Marina del Rey. Three years later, he teamed up with Atlanta's
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Premier Anesthesia, and that center became the first of four
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National Pain Institute sites. The other NPI clinics-in Huntington
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Beach, Santa Monica and Atlanta--all opened within a year.
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A year later, however, he decided to sell his interest in NPI to
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Premier. The research he was doing, he claims, was "risky," and
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NPI's shareholders wanted the more secure revenue stream of treating
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patients. So he has taken that risk at his new center. "Here, we
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do all the things nobody else does," Frome boasts.
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Apart from the PAP-IMI, his innovations include extensive work on
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biofeedback and the treatment of pain with a machine called the
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Pneumatherm, which, like the PAP-IMI, was invented by another
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researcher but put to use by Frome. The Pneumatherm "heats the deep
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tissue," he says, penetrating as much as four centimeters instead of
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the one centimeter of more traditional treatments.
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Because the treatment "fools the brain into thinking you've been
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burned," patients generally fall asleep but awake refreshed and,
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Page 3
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they say, in far less pain. Frome heard of Pappas' work in late
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1991, while trying to find an innovative treatment for his father-
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in-law's brain cancer. He was told--incorrectly--that Pappas had a
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treatment for brain tumors that was not available in the United
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States. It turned out that the PAP-IMI did not work on brain or
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nerve cells but did have far-reaching pain implications, and a six-
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month telephone correspondence began before Pappas came to Los
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Angeles in May of last year.
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If there are doubts about its value as an AIDS treatment, Lightning
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in a Box seems to have nothing but support from his pain patients.
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Dennis Tanenbaum, an L.A. architect and engineer, was working on a
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project in Belize in 1985 when a deranged local, for no apparent
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reason, came up to him with a machete and hacked off his leg just
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below the knee. "I just sat there and waited to die," he recalls.
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After many doctors and much futile treatment to get rid of his pain,
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Tanenbaum was ready to give up and even considered doing himself in,
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when he came to Frome late last year after learning about him in an
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ad for the National Pain Institute. The PAP-IMI zappings to his leg
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stump have "given me my life back," he states.
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Then there's Tom Norris, a retired military maintenance officer who
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says radiation damage from treatment for testicular cancer left him
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in excruciating pain, nearly unable to move for two years and fed up
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with both military and civilian doctors. "The military doesn't
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believe in pain," he laughs, and doctors at UCLA told him to live
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with it because nothing could be done.
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"Dr. Frome was the first doctor I'd seen out of hundreds who really
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cared about me and gave me hope," Norris says. After starting
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treatments with what he calls the "electric doughnut" in January of
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this year, he says, "I now have a life, where I didn't have a life
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before."
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The PAP-IMI works on standard alternating current and is
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"noninvasive"--which means the patient remains clothed and seated
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and simply puts the looped hose on his chest, neck or other targeted
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area. As the current pulsates through the loop, it feels like a
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continuous minor electric shock--less intense than sticking a finger
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in a wall socket.
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The process appears to increase something called the transmembrane
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potential of cells--the voltage between the inner and outer sheaths-
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-from around 15 to 75 millivolts, or from unhealthy to healthy
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levels. Patients currently being treated for pain or other symptoms
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come in to use the device for 20 to 30 minutes, once or twice a
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week. In the proposed clinical trials, there will be 36 treatments
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over the course of three months, each lasting 30 to 60 minutes.
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The effect, patients say, is immediate. Fatigue seems to be the
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first victim, with patients who normally go to bed by 9 reporting
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they stay up into the wee hours of the night of a treatment and
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still wake up refreshed.
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This relief may, of course, be just a "jolt factor"-something like
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drinking 8 or 10 Cokes. And both patients and Frome warn that the
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rush wears off fairly quickly, as does the impact on such other
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symptoms as diarrhea and lung infections, unless a rigorous
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Page 4
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treatment schedule is maintained.
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The first inkling Frome and Pappas had that the machine had
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applications for AIDS came when a patient being treated for AlDS-
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related pain noticed that his Karposi's sarcoma lesions cleared up
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soon after using the PAP-IMI. "We thought, Hmmm, this is something
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we should look into," says Frank Mingarella, an administrator at
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Frome's clinic.
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Though it has still been tried in only nine AIDS cases, the patients
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themselves are emphatic. "My life has changed dramatically since I
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started coming here," says Brett Smiley, a 37-year-old HIV-positive
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actor-cum-waiter, as he sits patiently with the loop on his chest,
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the machine gyrating and pulsating away like Walter Mitty's
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"pocketa" machine.
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Smiley says herpes outbreaks that used to last for weeks now go away
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in a matter of days. He, too, claims to have much more energy. It
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is only when he says that his T-cell count-- the government's key
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defining factor for AIDS classification--has improved that doctors
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quickly intervene to warn against jumping to conclusions. It may
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increase T-cell count, says Frome, but that is precisely why he
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wants FDA approval for clinical trials --to gather evidence to
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support the testimonials.
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Also, he says, because the AIDS virus "multiplies so fast," the
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effects of the treatment may last only days, or hours, with the
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infections, fatigue or other symptoms rapidly returning. On the
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plus side, no adverse side effects have yet been reported.
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Naturally, there are skeptics. Dr. Castoria Seymore, chief of
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anesthesiology at Daniel Freeman-lnglewood, agrees that Frome "is a
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great entrepreneur." But he reflects the medical community's
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general opinion about the new territory Frome is traversing. "Pain
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is the big thing now," he says, explaining all the money and
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attention Frome's clinic is getting. But "I'd wait until I got some
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definitive data" before trumpeting the virtues of the PAP-IMI in
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AIDS treatment, he adds.
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Dr. Michael Gottlieb, who first recognized AIDS as a new disease and
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is considered one of the country's foremost AIDS authorities, has
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one patient currently being treated with Lightning in a Box.
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Although Gottlieb, now in private practice in Sherman Oaks, says he
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doesn't know the treatment in detail, from what he does know, "it
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doesn't make sense." When we asked if he would recommend that his
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patients go to Frome, he said no.
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Then there's Steven Kaali, of New York's Einstein Medical College,
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who is also working on the effects of electromagnetic current on the
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AIDS virus--though his method applies electrical current directly to
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the blood through a kidney dialysis-like procedure. Kaali points
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out that an increase in a patient's T-cell count doesn't necessarily
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mean the patient is improving--the count can actually go up during
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an AlDS-related infection, as cells try to fight the disease. And
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Kaali, who says he is not aware of the device or of Frome's efforts,
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cautiously adds, "I appreciate everybody's results as long as they
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are reproducible. If they are not published and FDA approved, I am
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dubious."
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Page 5
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Scott Hitt, a physician at Pacific Oaks Medical Group and a board
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member of AIDS Project Los Angeles, cautions that "so many leads
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like this go to a dead end... You have to cross-examine the hype
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before you hype it."
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Ironically, Frome seems to agree. "I have people coming out of the
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woodwork literally every single day, bringing me stuff - cures for
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cancer, AIDS, all this weird holistic stuff." In a characteristic
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Frome flight from modesty, he adds, "I seem to have a special knack
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to filter out the bullshit... and find out if something works or
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not."
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That, of course, is why he has submitted the clinical trials
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protocol to the FDA. Also, by submitting it as a potential AIDS
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treatment, it gets "fast-track" approval or denial in the current
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AlDS-crazed climate. (The FDA won't comment on requests or other
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materials pending before it.)
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If Frome's radar is working and the PAP-IMI does in fact have a
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significant effect on the AIDS virus, the implications could be
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remarkable. But the down side is formidable, too. Pappas says
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Frome is "risking his reputation" by putting his faith in the
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device. Indeed, during the reporting on this story, several calls
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from colleagues at his pain institute tried to put a damper on Frome
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going public with his enthusiasm. The reasons ranged from a "fear"
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that the clinic would be besieged by AIDS patients wanting to be
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part of the trials to a "concern" that the FDA would look
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unfavorably on the clinic for "going public" before the approval
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process runs its course.
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But Frome clearly revels in it all. One gets the impression that he
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sees himself as a cross between Ben Casey and Donald Trump (mid-
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'80s version). He takes a purse from a cabinet in his office and
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pulls out a small-caliber pistol. A despondent pain patient gave it
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to him, he says. She'd asked him to hold it until she got to the
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point where her pain was so bad she'd want to use it. Now she jokes
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about it, because her pain is gone.
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"He does feel comfortable about what he is able to do," laughs
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Richard Jackson, chairman of Premier Anesthesia, which put an
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estimated $6 million into Frome's pocket with the NPI acquisition.
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But he insists Frome has the talent to match his ego. "He's really
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a pioneer in medicine," he says.
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No one agrees with that more than Frome himself. "I'm an innovative
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guy," he muses. "Everybody knows I'm an innovative guy." And though
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he won't make specific medical claims about Lightning in a Box, he
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will say this: "The guys on the Nobel Prize committee are friends of
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mine," adding that the son of one committee member was "sure that
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this thing is a cure for AIDS."
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If you have comments or other information relating to such topics
|
|
as this paper covers, please upload to KeelyNet or send to the
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Vangard Sciences address as listed on the first page.
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Thank you for your consideration, interest and support.
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Jerry W. Decker.........Ron Barker...........Chuck Henderson
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Vangard Sciences/KeelyNet
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--------------------------------------------------------------------
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If we can be of service, you may contact
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Jerry at (214) 324-8741 or Ron at (214) 242-9346
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