Chalk another one up for Biotherapy!
The past 20 years have seen dramatic advances in the Biotherapy research and acceptance into mainstream medicine. Milestones like FDA marketing clearance and insurance reimbursement highlight these advances. The latest evidence of acceptance of biotherapy into mainstream health care comes in the form of sponsorship for the upcoming (8th) International Conference on Biotherapy, which will be held this year in North America (Los Angeles).

One of the event's sponsors is the University of Cincinnati, and its program for Continuing Medical Education. The University of Cincinnati is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. See for yourself: UC designated ICB-2010 for a maximum of 25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity). There is no greater recognition than this.

Please join us in thanking all those at University of Cincinnati for their support and confidence in Biotherapy and the upcoming Conference. Better yet, thank them in person by joining us at ICB-2010.

Read more about the Conference at the Conference website: www.bterfoundation.org/icb/icb2010.htm.

Preparing for the 8th International Conference on Biotherapy
The past few months have been quite busy for those in the Biotherapy world: preparing for the 8th International Conference on Biotherapy. "We had planned to stop accepting abstracts for the conference by now," said a spokesman for the Conference, ". . . but abstracts are continuing to roll in, and we are reluctant to terminate the flow of papers and ideas." So, the Organizing Committee announced this week that the deadline for submitting abstracts for the Conference has been extended until August 31.

The Conference Organizers don't want anyone with something to share to be left out.

You shouldn't be left out, either! Register for ICB-2010, and reserve your room at the Hollywood - Universal Hilton now, before the discounted rooms are all sold.

Read more about the Conference in the BTER Foundation's newsletter (THE BeTER LeTTER), or check out the Conference website: www.bterfoundation.org/icb/icb2010.htm.

Today I bring Good News . . .

The 8th International Conference on Biotherapy is coming to America!
Mark your calenders, make your reservations: Los Angeles, November 11-14, 2010.
This is the first time that the acclaimed Conference has been held in North America. The schedule includes 4 days of clinical and research developments in maggot therapy, leech therapy, helminthic therapy, phage therapy, hippotherapy, diagnostic canines and more. You can find additional information and registration materials at: www.bterfoundation.org/icb/icb2010.htm.

Want to submit a paper or poster? Hurry! - deadline is June 1, 2010. Want to attend? Hurry! - before the reserved (discounted) rooms are all gone, or the early-bird registration period is over.

This year, 2010, will be a spectacular year for the BTER Foundation, and for Biotherapy in general. Several events coming up, including the 8th International Conference on Biotherapy (ICB-2010).

Information will soon be posted on this and other websites concerning ICB-2010. For now, SAVE THE DATE: October 7-10, 2010; Los Angeles, CA. This will be the first time that the International Conference on Biotherapy will be held in North America. Hope to see you all there. Visit the Conference Website for current information: www.BTERFoundation.org/icb/icb2010.htm. Or contact the BTER Foundation (conference@BTERFoundation.org) if you want to work on the program.

I can't believe it's been over a year since my last entry! Plenty has transpired, but I have had (I have made) no time to write about it. I will try to do better.

The biggest news right now is that the BTER Foundation has a new web design. This has been a project in the planning for nearly a year, because the vast number of resources grew beyond the ability of the earlier site structure to organize and retrieve them. Take a look at the new www.BTERFoundation.org. Leave a message as to how well the site serves you, or how it could be improved.

Better yet, leave a note as to how YOU can help the website grow, or how YOU can help the BTER Foundation help others.

Also, you can read about some of the other developments this past year in Biotherapy in the BTER Foundation newsletters.

The following newsletter was sent out by the BTER Foundation: www.bterfoundation.org/tbl/TBL_V4N5.htm This is the introduction:

"The BTER Foundation has just issued the following press release, which also can be found at: www.bterfoundation.org/indexfiles/BTER%20Foundation_PR_0811.pdf

"As you can see below, we are very pleased to announce that the American Medical Association (AMA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took our concerns about maggot therapy coding seriously, and issued coding recommendations that should support your requests for insurance reimbursement.

"We are grateful for their efforts to work together in this way to improve patient services and clinician compensation. Their action demonstrates their support for all of us that use or receive biotherapy.

"Thank you all who wrote letters for us to take to the CMS Public Hearing in Baltimore, back in April, 2008. The words of Margaret Mead (which appear at the bottom of most of our newsletters), ring true, again: 'Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.'"

The BeTER LeTTER newsletter archives, with all earlier issues, can be found at: www.bterfoundation.org/indexfiles/letter.htm

Maggots Finally Get Some Respect

At the risk of appearing conceited, let me devote today’s report to two instances where biotherapy was awarded some respect by the society in general, and the medical community in particular.

Maggot therapy began its current revival in the United States in the early 1990’s. In the United Kingdom, this occurred about 5 years later. There are many proponents of maggot therapy in the UK, and many people who deserve credit for creating the laboratories and clinics where it all started. Since those early days, Mary Jones devoted her time to spreading the word, and the skills, through her efforts teaching other health care providers to treat patients with maggot dressings. Earlier this year, her Maggot Therapy work was formally recognized by the Queen of England. Mary Jones was awarded an MBE in the Queen's New Year Honors for her services to nursing. Read more about it at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7163148.stm

This past June, the Director of the BioTherapeutics, Education & Research (BTER) Foundation, Ronald Sherman (yes, that’s me), was recognized by the editors of Medical Device and Diagnostics Industry as one of the “100 Notable People” in the medical device industry for 2008. This tribute was published in the June, 2008 issue of the trade journal.

Among Dr. Sherman’s contributions listed in this cover story are his clinical trials of medicinal maggots for wound-healing, and his success in securing FDA marketing clearance for those maggots --- the first live animal to achieve such a status in FDA history.

Ronald Sherman began his interest in maggot therapy as an Entomology undergraduate, and wrote his first paper with Plastic Surgeon Ed Pechter while in medical school (published 1983). By 1989 he had the opportunity to design and conduct his first prospective clinical trials of maggot therapy. With funding by the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA), California PVA, and the Andrus Foundation (American Association of Retired Persons), he spent the next 5 years evaluating the safety and efficacy of the flies that he captured in Southern California. Sherman modernized methods for disinfecting them and applying them to wounds. He has supplied nearly 1,000 therapists in the United States with medicinal maggots for use in their patients, and he has assisted others worldwide in setting up their own maggot-rearing laboratories (today more than 25 laboratories supply medicinal maggots to patients in 35 countries). In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) began regulating medicinal maggots. In January, 2004, Sherman’s Medical Maggots became the first living organism to receive marketing clearance by the FDA as a prescription medical device. found a safe and effective strain, which has been maintained with genetic purity until this day.

These two commendations are a landmark in biotherapy history, for they indicate that maggot therapy and those who promote it are now welcome back into the mainstream. Indeed, at least in Britain, they are even welcome in high society. Congratulations to Mary Jones and Ron Sherman. Congratulations to British and American Society, for making it back to the future of medicine.