K-PAX for Floxies

Just to note upfront, I have no affiliation with K-PAX. I have not been asked by them to write any of this. The following post is for your information only and I hope that it’s helpful!

In October, 2015 I received the following email:

I was recently introduced to K-PAX Pharmaceuticals who is conducting research on mitochondrial toxicity, thought to be a cause of the symptoms associated with Fluoroquinolone use.

Their main immune support formula was originally created to decrease the toxicity caused by antiviral medications in the HIV population. These medications caused similar symptoms, including peripheral neuropathy, as seen in Fluoroquinolone use. This Immune Formula was shown to achieve a 33% decrease in peripheral neuropathy for these patients. Their goal was to provide high levels of antioxidants in order to combat free radicals associated with the medication toxicity. Patients taking this formula also had a 26% increase in their CD4 count. This formula boosted their immunity by improving their mitochondrial health. This research was published in the Journal of AIDS (Kaiser, J. D., Campa, A. M., Ondercin, J. P., Leoung, G. S., Pless, R. F., & Baum, M. K. (2006). Micronutrient supplementation increases CD4 count in HIV-infected individuals on highly active antiretroviral therapy: a prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 42(5), 523-528).

The reason I started looking in to K-PAX’s Immune Formula was after coming across the 2013 FDA Pharmacovigilance Review entitled, “Disabling Peripheral Neuropathy Associated with Systemic Fluorquinolone Exposure.” This paper draws the same connection between damaged mitochondria function from medication toxicity and peripheral neuropathy. In it, the FDA states, “A human prospective study was done to evaluate oxidative stress in patients taking different doses of ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, and gatifloxacin for 5 days for complicated UTI. Superoxide dismutase (SOD), and endogenous antioxidant enzyme that removes free radicals, glutathione, another major antioxidant, plasma antioxidant status and lipid peroxides were evaluated in the 52 patients. Results showed that ciprofloxacin had a significant increase in lipid peroxide levels from the first to the fifth day, almost doubling. There was also a significant decrease from (73% to 32%) in SOD, as well as glutathione. The results were similar for levofloxacin, although to a lesser degree, but these results were not seen with gatifloxacin. This study showed how increase in lipid peroxides can quickly overwhelm what is left of the plasma antioxidants, leading to impairment of cell integrity and cell death.”

From what I understand, K-PAX Pharmaceuticals is currently focusing their research on chronic fatigue syndrome and fatigue related to other medical conditions. They are looking at mitochondrial dysfunction as the cause for these conditions as well. They just published a paper about their clinical trial using their Immune Support Formula for mitochondrial damage in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. (Kaiser, J. D. (2015). A prospective, proof-of-concept investigation of KPAX002 in chronic fatigue syndrome. International journal of clinical and experimental medicine, 8(7), 11064).

I wanted to share this information with you and your readers as I have been doing a lot of research for my own condition and see more and more reference to mitochondrial damage as a culprit so I decided to give it a try. I have now been using the K-PAX Immune Formula for the past 6 months and have seen a significant decrease in my neuropathy and improvement in my energy level. My brain fog has lifted and I feel an improvement in my overall health. I like the fact that this product is actually helping to heal my mitochondria and reverse the cell damage caused by these toxic medications.

After corresponding with the author a bit, I sent an email to the folks at K-PAX asking if they had ever heard of it being used to help people through fluoroquinolone toxicity. The next day I received a phone call from the K-PAX Medical and Community Liaison, Deirdre. Deirdre wasn’t familiar with fluoroquinolone toxicity specifically, but she was familiar with mitochondrial toxicity, drug-induced mitochondrial toxicity, and many of the diseases that FQ toxicity resembles (like autoimmune diseases, fibromyalgia, ME/CFS, Gulf War Syndrome, etc.). Deirdre and I chatted extensively about fluoroquinolone toxicity and we decided that there was mutual interest in seeing how the K-PAX supplements worked for floxies. Deirdre/K-PAX offered to send 15 floxies a month’s supply of K-PAX Immune Support to see if it helped them.

I selected 15 floxies (first come, first serve – and I tried to get a decent age and gender mix) to receive the K-PAX Immune Support supplements and, about a week later, they started taking them.

Please note that this was in no way an official trial or experiment. I asked that all the floxie participants be willing to give me feedback about their experience, but that was the only obligation.

After everyone had time to complete the supplements, I sent out a survey to see how people liked the supplements and how they reacted.

You can view the survey results HERE.

To summarize*:

• 37.5% of respondents had FQ toxicity symptom improvement while taking the supplements, 37.5% did not, and 25% of the respondents answered “other” to that question.
• Fatigue relief and increased energy were two of the symptoms that some people experienced relief of.
• 62.5% of respondents said that they would recommend K-PAX supplements to other floxies. Their reasons for recommending it to others included, “I have 20 years experience trying to recover, bio-available nutrients have been the only thing to combat the symptoms I have found,” and, “I have seen improvement in my fatigue,” and, ” if ANYTHING can help, it’s worth a try.”

If you would like to try the K-PAX supplements, they are available through the K-PAX store – http://www.kpaxpharm.com/. Additional information can be found on http://www.kpaxpharmaceuticals.com/.

I would also like to note that it was very generous of the K-PAX personnel to send their products to so many floxies, and for them to have a willing, open mind about fluoroquinolone toxicity. Their customer-service was phenomenal and I appreciate all their hard work on behalf of the floxie community very much! I also appreciate that they’re looking for solutions to complex, poorly-understood illnesses. Companies like K-PAX are part of the solution, as far as I can tell.

Again, I have no affiliation with K-PAX, and they didn’t even ask me to write this post. I’ve tried to be as open and transparent as possible, but if any of you have any questions about any of this, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Thanks again to the K-PAX personnel and to all the floxies who were willing to try something new!

*Please note that the results of the survey may change if more people take the survey after this post is published.