William Carter

William A. Carter, MD, is the inventor of Ampligen, short for “AMPLIfied GENetic activity,” a drug being tested for use in the treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Dr. Carter was a researcher at John Hopkins University in the 1970's, where he was able to modify a potential cancer drug to reduce its toxicity, thus creating Ampligen. Dr. Carter obtained the license for Ampligen from John Hopkins University and affiliated with the small company, Hemispherx, now called Hemispherx Biopharma in 1978 to manufacture it.

Once the long-time CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors for Hemispherx Biopharma, he was terminated from his position in January 2016 as the result of a "strong financial austerity plan."

Notable Studies

 * 2012, A double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, clinical trial of the TLR-3 agonist rintatolimod in severe cases of chronic fatigue syndrome."Abstract: 'A Phase III prospective, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial comparing twice weekly IV rintatolimod versus placebo was conducted in 234 subjects with long-standing, debilitating CFS/ME at 12 sites. The primary endpoint was the intra-patient change from baseline at Week 40 in exercise tolerance (ET). Secondary endpoints included concomitant drug usage, the Karnofsky Performance Score (KPS), Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and Vitality Score (SF 36). Subjects receiving rintatolimod for 40 weeks improved intra-patient placebo-adjusted ET 21.3% (p = 0.047) from baseline in an intention-to-treat analysis. Correction for subjects with reduced dosing compliance increased placebo-adjusted ET improvement to 28% (p = 0.022). The improvement observed represents approximately twice the minimum considered medically significant by regulatory agencies. The rintatolimod cohort vs. placebo also reduced dependence on drugs commonly used by patients in an attempt to alleviate the symptoms of CFS/ME (p = 0.048). Placebo subjects crossed-over to receive rintatolimod demonstrated an intra-patient improvement in ET performance at 24 weeks of 39% (p = 0.04). Rintatolimod at 400 mg twice weekly was generally well-tolerated."