Wexler's statements are complete lies and have never been substantiated by him nor by anyone else. He has taken simple disclaimers that are standard on a 10-k and made false statements form them. For example, GUMM must disclose that someone MIGHT copy their formula, but this is highly unlikely, according to the Gel Tech people I spoke with. I asked them if this could be duplicated and they said that they tried about 40 formulas over several years prior to the development of their final formulation. In addition, it is not just simple zinc gluconate in solution. The fact is that the zinc ions will not adhere to the epithelial cells unless their charge is affected by the matrix and that matrix is proprietary.
Despite what Wexler says, these people are not amateurs. Brown Russell, now Chairman of the Board at GUMM is a lawyer himself. Davidson and Hensley are respected Ph.D. researchers from USC and anyone can look them up on Medline as I have mentioned several times. They are membrane physiologists and their business is cell-cell interactions and interrelations.
This homeopathic "issue" that Wexler keeps bringing up and does not seem to understand is that 2% Zinc Gluconate, no matter how it is delivered, is not considered a "drug" by the FDA, because it is a low dose relatively harmless material. This is the same material in Quigley's cold-eze, but in Zicam it is delivered to the site of action and can be supplied at a low dose. As a matter of fact, that is why Zicam is without all the side effects one associates with zinc lozenges.
With regard to his baseless accusations of promotions, a number of us have posted on his "Bill Wexler's Dogpound" Thread about July 4 or so after he called the company a fraud.
I am a medical doctor and I am an investor in GUMM. I am not involved in promoting Zicam as a physician, I merely explain to the best of my abilities why I think it works (I have used it and so has my wife and one of my work partners). I am not employed by GUMM, not employed by GelTech and have received no stock nor money for my opinions. I have what I consider to be a significant holding and, as such, feel compelled to defend baseless lies and accusations of fraud against people I have interviewed at stockholder meetings. I have found them, in my judgement to be honest individuals with legitimate products. I routinely post on SI about several different stocks I have invested in or have interest in.
Based on the above, and based on Wexler's posts, it is my opinion that Wexler is engaged in lying about a thinly traded small float company. He calls the specific product, Zicam, "homeopathy", because there are negative connotations of that practice since many homeopathic materials contain negligible amounts of substances. Zicam is a 2% solution of Zinc Gluconate in a gel matrix. It is a 33 millimolar solution. Quigley's cold-eze is also labeled as "homeopathic and, whatever you believe about its effectiveness, has a measuarble amount of zinc gluconate in it.
The statement that Wexler made to Dan Zimmerman in post #918 on this thread <<<"Interesting how you readily accept GUMM's claims of an effective cold remedy at face value...even though there is absolutely no scientific evidence that homeopathy or homeopathic medications do anything except thin your wallet.">>is directly refuted by the fact that a study of Zicam's effectiveness has been submitted to the New England Journal of Medicine and has been presented, in abstract form, at a scientific meeting, as documented here. His statement is completely groundless and we have posted reference after reference and explanation after explanation about ICAM and infection in rhinoviral infections. Dan documented the abstract verbatim as presented by Dr. DAvidson in Corfu. Yet, Wexler persists in saying patently and documentable untruths about Zicam and about the people of GelTech and GumTech. A sensible and honest person would reserve judgement |
