By ANSBERT B. JOAQUIN | Olongapo City
(Updated March 28, 2020 / 1:55 pm)
WHILE countries all over the world race against time to find an antidote to the highly infectious Covid-19, anti-viral vaccines that could be a game-changer in the fight against this deadly disease may just be in our neighborhood.
The first one was developed by the Fabunan family of doctors in San Marcelino, Zambales who for years now has been treating patients for dengue, chikungunya, dog bite, snake bite, and even HIV/AIDS with their Fabunan anti-viral injection (FAI).
Dr. Willie Fabunan, who now maintains clinics in San Marcelino and in Olongapo City, has recorded the successful treatment of nine out of ten HIV/AIDS patients way back when he was still practicing in his hometown in 1999.
Willie’s elder brother Ruben, who is now based in Los Angeles, California, founded the Fil-Am Tech, a private biotechnology firm, and began treating patients suffering from HIV/AIDS with the same drug.
What is significant is that this vaccine, Dr. Willie Fabunan told this reporter in earlier interviews, is just a combination of drugs anyone can buy over-the-counter from drugstores.
“We just changed the ratio of these combination drugs in treating various ailments,” Fabunan said, stressing the safety of his drug combo.
ALTERNATIVE CURE
As Covid-19 claims more lives in the country, Dr. Fabunan is offering this same drug as a potent remedy against the dreaded disease.
In a recent interview over a local radio station, Fabunan said that he has proven the efficacy of FAI for many years now since he started medical practice in 1981.
The problem, he added, is having the FAI combination approved by the government. “They’re looking for (clinical) trials, but I don’t have any because this is a private venture and we are not being funded,” he said.
But Fabunan said that in the absence of a cure for Covid-19, the government should consider the drug cocktail they developed.
“There are already health workers and doctors dying, what are (the authorities) waiting for when they don’t have any alternative to offer?” he asked. “Let us try to look into this (drug) and understand what it is, and give us some support because we’re not doing this for ourselves but for the whole country, the whole world who needs this.”
BATTING FOR PRODEX-B
Meanwhile, another local group has started an online petition for the Department of Health (DOH) to test their anti-viral drug which they named Prodex-B.
Health for Life president and former Olongapo City councilor John Carlos delos Reyes said it is crucial for the DOH to consider Prodex-B for immediate testing as a potential Covid-19 cure.
“We have focused enough on quarantines, lockdowns, testing kits, PPEs, more money from Congress. These are preventive and defensive, very expensive and will drain us in this battle of attrition with the virus. What we need is an anti-viral cure, and we need it now! Without this, we lose the war!” Delos Reyes said in a facebook appeal to encourage the public to sign the online petition.
In the petition “Urgent Appeal to DOH for the Immediate Testing of Prodex-B Anti-Viral Against Covid-19”, Delos Reyes said the drug cocktail is a combination of procaine and dexmethasone with vitamin B.
He said the compounded medicine has been the subject of two research papers. The first was titled “A Novel Method for the Selective Elimination of HIV Infected Cells: Dexamethasone and Procaine as a Combination Therapy Prototype” and conducted by Drs. Elbourakadi, Najoua and Ethan W. Taylor of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2011.
The second study was “In Vitro Anti-dengue Virus Activity of a Customized Drug Cocktail” conducted by the Molecular Immunology Laboratory for Research Education and Training (MILRET) at St. Luke’s Medical Center led by Dr. Isaac David E. Ampil II and Dr. Maria Terrese Alonzo-Dimamay.
In both tests, Delos Reyes said, “conclusions showed inhibition in viral replication, significant reduction of virus quantity, and even the ability to selectively kill infected cells.” He said both drugs in the combo are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the Philippines and in the United States.
Quoting Dr. Ethan Taylor, Delos Reyes said the drugs “have different mechanisms of action, but when combined, produce a synergistic effect with a natural alcohol antagonistic to the virus.”
Delos Reyes also posted a March 20 letter from the St. Luke’s Medical Center’s Research and Biotechnology Group disclosing the results of their dengue research which showed “significant reduction in the virus quantity after treatment with the drug cocktail.”
“Our doctors are confident it can arrest the COVID-19 virus,” Delos Reyes said in his facebook post. “This is because Covid-19, which is caused by the virus named ‘severe acute respiratory syndrome corona virus 2’ (SARS-CoV-2), shares similar symptoms with Influenza, and the drug cocktail Prodex-B is almost 100% successful against influenza and dengue which are viral diseases.”
As of March 28, the petition by Health for Life, Inc. has gained 6,529 signatories. Their goal was to collect 7,500 signatures.
TESTIMONIES
Meanwhile, residents of Olongapo City and Zambales who are familiar with the Fabunan drug regimen are gung-ho at having the anti-viral injection approved by the Department of Health, citing first-hand experiences of the drug’s efficacy.
In a social media post by Peter Tiu Lavina, the former Duterte campaign spokesman said: “A friend from Cavite is on his way to Zambales escorted by PNP to look for the Filipino scientist who made anti-viral meds used against dengue, malaria, Ebola. God bless their way!”
And quickly, Olongapo residents took it as referring to to Dr. Willie Fabunan. “Dr. Fabunan to the rescue,” Nalene delos Santos Paulo of the Social Action Center of Zambales immediately commented.
One Mark Fernandez said: “Gamitin n’yo na lahat ng resources na meron tayo. Kung makakatulong si Doc Fabunan para sa situation ng bansa natin, let’s try it… besides madami na s’ya napagaling.”
Replying to a netizen who claimed her nephews and nieces were cured by the Fabunan anti-dengue vaccine, Manila Times correspondent Patrick Roxas joined in: “Di lang kayo. Dito sa family ko, pati sa kapatid kong bunso, nakatulong yung gamot nila Dr. Fabunan. And the reading materials plus research na ginawa ko while collaborating with them for some time allowed me a first-hand experience with the drug and the people who invented it.”
Another netizen, Marnee Aguila, who said that she just had two shots of the Fabunan anti-viral injection two weeks ago said: “That’s Dr. Willie Fabunan…a respectable doctor with his anti-viral injection.”
For his part, Delos Reyes said they are ready and willing to share what they know and disclose what they have about Prodex-B, so that the government can begin the process of vetting this medical alternative that could very well prove to be the game-changer against this pandemic.
“Our team is also willing to be deployed to ‘ground zero’ to be frontliners. We offer that our doctors administer the anti-viral for free. Please consider it part of the (clinical) trials,” Delos Reyes added.
“No names here, no profits to be made, no politics, just turning over to government and health authorities what we have, for love of country and humanity,“ he concluded. ~
NOTE: Above photo by Kendal/Unsplash is used for illustration purpose only. It is not meant to represent any of the drug mentioned in this story.
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