How Psychogenetics &
Nutrigenomics Began
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The Kenneth Blum, PhD Life Story: A man seeking truth while reaching for the Stars.
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that Synaptamine a nutraceutical product that I developed must be reducing drug craving behavior by inducing increased D2 receptors. It was so simple the DRD2 gene polymorphism caused a lowered D2 density and this could be positively effected by administering a D2 agonist (activation of D2 sites in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) or brain reward site). Chronic treatment would result in D2 receptor proliferation, thereby reducing aberrant craving behavior58. I was thinking to myself someday - I will show this to be true.
In 1995, I was flying to Bowling Green Kentucky to present my work to a number of Addiction and Educational centers across the state, that same year I had decided to retire from the medical school after battling over petty issues with Dr. Briggs's replacement Alan Frazer, a former professor under the direction of Perry Molinoff. On the flight, an amazing thought popped into my head, maybe all addictions have common mechanisms that are due to genetic deficits causing a dopamine deficiency. The idea was not unlike that already espoused by Charles Dackis and Mark Gold, experts in the field of cocaine addiction.59 Then It came to me that like Auto-immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS) explained a common underlying genetic route to all these behaviors. After publishing the idea in the prestigious Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine and the more popular version in American Scientist,59 a star was born. 60 All of this work prompted CRC press to invite Noble and me to edit the first " Handbook on Psychiatric Genetics," and as such we gathered the giants in the emerging field: Robert Cloninger, Thomas J. Bouchard , Michael Conneally, Tadao Arinami, Ed Cook, DE Comings, John Crabbe, Joel Gelertner, G.G. Gessa, Shirley Hill, Yuan C Liu, Horace Loh, RD. Todd, George Uhl, Hongxia XU among others.61 The field had expanded and a society was born. In 2010, the annual meeting will take place in Athens, Greece.
Unexpected things happen and just as I quit my tenured position as full professor, Arlene's position as Head nurse at the University of Texas Teaching Hospital for the past 17 years was eliminated. In spite of this, we built our new home in the swanky Stone Oak area of San Antonio. You talk about living on the edge. Then in 1997, I made my first million. My lawyer cousin living in San Diego walked out of his downtown office, saw a huge line outside of his neighborhood pharmacy and out of curiosity was surprised to find that a Texas scientist had just come out with a new weight management product that was selling off the shelf like crazy. Realizing that it could be me, he phoned and confirmed that a marketing blitz had resulted in $70 million in mass retail sales. Due to extraordinary claims made by Wieder Nutrition International, the product was removed in 199862. Interestingly it was the same year that PhenFen sold millions of FDA approved weight loss prescriptions, which was also pulled off the market for adverse side effects. I remember being asked in the offices of Morton Davis & Company, a large wall-street firm, to join my patents with those of my old mentor Siefter's, at Wyeth Labs, the distributors of PhenFen. Fortunately my answer was no.
At this time, after presenting a lecture to a room filled with interested chiropractors in Circus Circus, Las Vegas, a bigger than life man with an inquisitive mind approached me asking if he could get the amino-acid formula. Later, Roger L. Waite DC, would be responsible for saving my life by effecting my relocation from Texas to San Diego. Today he is my friend and co-investigator on many new projects and a current partner in business along with William Downs and James Heaney.
Our work on RDS resulted in another star moment. I was called by security of The Ritz Carlton in San Francisco one November afternoon in 200063 -" Dr. Blum we have someone downstairs on crutches, in slippers, and a bathrobe wanting to meet you at the Reward Deficiency Conference. He is insisting that he is the spokesman". "Oh - that's Nick Nolte...I will be right down". At the luncheon for all the attendees, Nolte spoke with his husky voice -"I am an alcoholic and drug addict and I have the DRD2 gene problem and so does my son,- we have been tested. ---- Hopefully through this conference and more research someone will find a "cure" for this dreaded and awful disease." The conference was sponsored by the PATH Foundation NY and it included the best of the field: George Uhl, Nora Volkow [now director of NIDA], Michael Bozarth, Joel Lubar, Daniel Amen, David Smith, Terry Kostin, David Comings, Eliot Gardner, Julia Ross, Eric Braveramn, and my co-chairperson Ernest Noble to name just a few. Major, and continually outstanding contributions on dopamine D2 biology, neuropharmacolgy, clinical neurology and genetics have been made by Nora Volkow's team, now at NIDA; and then at the Brookhaven National Laboratory at Stony Brook New York.64 -65
In June of 2000, I missed a call from Seth on Father's day telling me that he made it to the final round of the Mountain Bike Racing World Cup. I was anticipating another phone call that day, but on Thursday of the next week -"Hi -Dad I just got back from Vegas... parting with the New Zealand team. I was winning the race but my bike crashed". I said -Too bad Seth maybe next time" "But Dad I was so close that I picked up my bike and finished in 3rd place anyway". Making us proud not only did Seth graduate from the University of Colorado at Boulder (Film Major) but became a professional mountain bike racer being named as one of fastest in the world. That was an example of never giving up.
In October 2000, I did receive a USPTO issuance of my patent for the composition of Synaptamine; US # 6,132,724.
In a fourteen-hour interview in San Francisco on camera with the makers of the 2001 movie, Blow, featuring Johnny Depp as George Young, an American who helped Pablo Escobar and the Medelin Cartel flood the United States with cocaine, I excitedly explained how cocaine works in the brain and its interaction with dopamine receptors. This translated to a 7 minute on screen appearance on the DVD backup section "Body and Soul". A real movie debut!
I remember August 8th 2000, along with Arlene, on my 61st birthday I was being serenaded by the one and only Steve Allen at a conference on Alcoholism in Los Angeles. Having Allen play happy birthday to me felt so good that I began to dance. Briefly, Steve Allen is best known as the original host of the "Tonight Show". He wrote 7,900 songs and published 54 books winning an Emmy and Peabody award for his show, "Meeting of the Minds." When asked " If you were still doing your show Meeting of the Minds who would you interview today" Allen replied -"Dr. Kenneth Blum of course, for his mindful work on the genetics of addiction". Sadly he died only 3 months later on October 30th.
Then my 9/11 came on August 22nd 2001, when on the same day I lost Arlene to Lung Cancer after 37 years of a great marriage, my Nutrigenomic deal with Metabolife went sour and Seymour Ehrenpries (after a forty year friendship) sued me. For sure, this was like a "box of Chocolates "you never know what you are going to get. For many months after that dreaded day, I was lost to the world. Eventually when Seth woke me up saying "Snap out of it DAD and go out and LIVE YOUR LIFE again!" I guess I thought that I had been truthful and honest in all my dealings and was so very disappointed when these painful events caused such devastation. My realization was that we create the life we want...in spite of the seemingly overwhelming challenges that confront us. It we don't create the life we want, the life we don't want will be created for us. I remember a quote by Dennis Wholey, "Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is as little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you're a vegetarian." So, I got back living my life again.
Highlights in my life at that time were attending Jeff's wedding to Victoria Donovan, an up and coming LA attorney. On November 2004, they adopted my lovely Chinese grand-daughter Jia, I was overjoyed as Jia has been and continues to be an extraordinary girl and a real delight in my life.
Making some bad choices, foolishly spending my money on women, I found myself penniless, but still excited about the future and science. In what seemed to be an amazing coincidence (I don't know if really do believe in coincidences), William Downs entered my life at a much needed time. Bill believed that conventional tactics were one-dimensional, didn't address fundamental biological needs (essential for body recomposition), and actually worked against the body, inducing a defensive survival response characterized by lowering the rate of calorie burning, increasing fat storage and increasing appetite. I agreed fully with him of course. After investigating the Synaptamine Intellectual Property (IP), he told me that this was the crucial missing link to the system. In fact, he recognized that Synaptamine addressed the command center that regulated cravings (such as appetite), motivation, aspects of learning, cognition, and reward. Dopamine exerted influence, either by upstream feedback, downstream sequela, and/or cross-stream interactions. In addition to the reactions involved in the reward cascade, including serotonin, enkephalins, GABA, catecholamine methyl transferase, and others. Bill who was in process of applying for a patent on a multiple pathway approach for weight loss, recognized dopamine's influence on leptin, ghrelin, insulin, energy production, bone health and immune function. He realized the incredible importance and potential of Synaptamine's effect on brain control. Together, we developed one of the first brain directed weight management products for a small Network Marketing company. The results were very encouraging. Moreover, our reviewed paper included a mathematical PATH analysis model showing the inter-relation of many anthropometrics and metabolic parameters in conjunction with the Synaptamine variant.67 We combined our individual IP contributions into one exciting patent application.
By the way, Bill' told me that his father had devoted his life to creating some important inventions in metallurgical science and was later cheated and infringed in his efforts to commercialize them. This experience had a devastating impact on his family's financial wellbeing that left an indelible mark on his life. As a result, we shared a bond and an appreciation for the value of an individual's life purpose. Bill had been involved in developing and protecting the IP of proprietary nutraceutical ingredients. For Bill, it was more of a mission than a job. We connected a special way that has endured and continually grown.
Then on October 18th 2005 once again the USPTO issued me patent # US 6,955,873 B1. This was a very unique patent because to my knowledge at the time it was the first Nutrigenomic patent ever issued. The invention relates to a kit and an intravenously or oral administrable preparation, both, with a signal transmitter precursor, an enhancer of precursor uptake, and an inhibitor of neurotransmitter reuptake or signal transmitter catabolism; the basis of Synaptamine. The kit also contains a method for collecting DNA for subsequent allelic analysis.
Over the next five years my life has changed for the better and I feel once again rejuvenated and full of life. Wait till you hear the rest of the story.
Continuing research on both the genetics and a potential solution for RDS victims,68 I was approached by a group to develop a third generation company coupling gene testing with natural D2 agonistic treatment based on my patents. Through William Downs' connection on Christmas day 2006 in the Netherlands, a pilot study verified the fact that people were very interested in obtaining a DNA directed solution to obesity or weight management. Within two weeks the company sold millions of dollars worth of the RDS system. Sadly the company Salugen, Inc. San Diego, California, had very poor management and due to alleged fiscal infractions especially committed by the president and CEO, Brian Meshkin, all top executives including myself, Bill Downs, Rodger Waite as well as others resigned. My hat is off to Kim Downs Bill's wife, for having the insight to personally confront him, thereby precipitating the exodus.
Based on contractual legal agreements there was an automatic reversal of all intellectual property back to me. During the Salugen years however, we did carry out a number of important experiments. These resulted in peer reviewed published articles emphasizing the benefits of Synaptamine variants targeting specific gene polymorphisms to assist individuals wanting to reduce their weight, reduce stress and other related pro-obesity behaviors.69-71
September 2007 I found myself in downtown San Diego not as a visitor but a resident surprisingly living in the same building as my dear cousins, Steve and Diane Gordon, primarily due to the encouragement and assistance from James Heaney and Roger Waite. Yes, I had literally escaped from a bad relationship in San Antonio and now I was happier. I really missed my sister, my son Seth and my friends in San Antonio. In San Dirego I was able to bond to a new family; the children of my cousins - Maureen, Jonathan, Aaron and Peggy and their lovely children. Further encouragement came from many...
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Reward Deficiency Solutions Systems
- Find out if you or your children have a genetic predisposition to RDS
- How to eliminate negative RDS behaviors; Stress, Craving, Depression or Anxiety
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Dr. Blum and Dr. Waite advocated a non-specific "healthy diet" and non-specific regular exercise to accompany a regimen of taking Synaptose
TM
, the nutrigenomic neuroadaptogen they developed based on Dr. Blum's many years of research to increase the endogenous production of Dopamine and reduce negative Reward Deficiency Syndrome behaviors. The scientific evidence they have thus far accumulated, they say, demonstrates that Synaptose
TM
changes the plasticity of the brain synapses while balancing the endogenous neurotransmitters, positively affecting the Brain Reward Cascade.
