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Biotech / Medical : Lidak Pharm. [LDAKA]
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To: Bill Rogers who wrote (502)8/26/1997 9:23:00 AM
From: MCorbley   of 1115
 
Re: Lysine as a therapy for cold sores. I have been aware of lysine as a possible therapy for herpes infections for at least 15 years, since the time that genital herpes first received widespread attention. I believe that lysine falls into the category of a folk remedy, which probably works for some people but which cannot be shown in a controlled clinical trial to be efficacious for the general population.

Lysine is a naturally occurring amino acid. It is already present in every cell in our bodies. It is present in any foods which have protein. It is available as a commodity dietary supplement in any health food store or any establishment which sells cattle feed.

Consequently, no one has a vested interest in doing a careful clinical study, because no one has exclusive rights to lysine in the first place. If patients want lysine they can just go eat a lot of lima beans**, which are high in lysine.

For the same reason, it is difficult to carry out a controlled trial because the intake and requirement for lysine varies from individual to individual.

It is also difficult to formulate a reasonable mechanism to explain why lysine would inhibit herpes infections.

So my bottom line on lysine is the following: I don't doubt that lysine is effective against Bill's cold sores. But for the general population I would say the same thing that I said about acyclovir--after so many years of availability, if it really worked, there wouldn't be 50 million people in the U.S. still suffering from cold sores.

Michael Corbley

** In this case, the therapy may be worse than the illness. But seriously, beans and legumes are high in lysine.
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