November 23, 2013

Worms trial terminated

Tiger worms (7 of 7)A disappointing report from Medpage Today indicates that a German trial of whipworm for the control of Crohn's Disease has been cancelled due to poor results. Whilst there were no safety concerns from the trial the hoped for response to the treatment had not occurred.

Although there is plenty of anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of helminths, to date I know of no full-scale clinical trials which have proven successful. I hope the failure of this trial will prompt researchers to investigate further and propose further avenues of to explore in this promising area.