In a presentation done this past year in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Dr. Jose Montoya, associate professor of medicine at Stanford University reported that the antiviral drug Valcyte, made by Swiss drugmaker Roche Holding AG , could be helpful in treating certain Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) patients. His data on 25 patients of his has been nothing short of impressive. All of his patients, nearly all of whom had high levels in their blood plasma of antibodies to the human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) and the Epstein-Barr virus showed positive response to the drug, some showed very dramatic improvement.

Most of the readers of my blog are aware that I am not the biggest fan of the pharmaceutical industry, but there are times when nutritional and herbal medicine just can’t do it all. In the case of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, many people have been helped by nutritional and lifestyle changes, but many have had little or no success with alternative methods of treatment. While it is a bit early to say that Dr. Montoya has found a cure, if I had CFS and had no luck with other treatments, I would certainly ask my physician to try Valcyte out on me.