The Road Back Foundation

The Road Back Foundation (RBF) is a non-profit 501(c)3 group which offers support and information about a treatment for rheumatic disease, and fosters research by funding and education. The treatment we advocate is different from traditional medications now available and it works in a way that greatly increases quality of life.

The Foundation's name is a taken from the now out-of-print book that reported the use of antibiotics for rheumatic diseases.  In 1988, with the publication of The Road Back- Rheumatoid Arthritis, Its Cause and Treatment, the late Dr. Thomas McPherson Brown, a well-known WashingtonDC area rheumatologist, and medical writer Henry Scammell explained to rheumatic patients the real possibility of disease control and the hope of regaining a normal life.

Dr. Brown believed the cause of these diseases was an infection, and treated them successfully over the course of 52 years. Those of us who have tried his treatment have been on the road to recovery - a road that we had believed did not exist.

Foundation founders, who have been helped by antibiotic therapy, wanted to spread the word to others, both patient and physician, that there is a safe, inexpensive treatment option which is effective against many rheumatic diseases.

Recent studies validated Dr. Brown's treatment. For years, arthritis and related diseases have been termed "of unknown cause" and for most patients, improvement has been temporary at best. Through 52 years of medical practice and research, Dr. Brown maintained that arthritis is infectious in cause and treated his patients accordingly -- often with dramatic results.

What We Do

- We provide information on the use of antibiotic treatment for rheumatic disease (rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis, etc.)

-  We connect people with a peer-to-peer patient network which offers support and resource information to those with rheumatic diseases.

- We support the writing/posting of personal case histories by people on the therapy by providing space on our web site to do so.

- Our web site focus is to inform and encourage the public about the safe and effective use of the therapy.  We post updates in research, studies, funding and other relevant information about antibiotic therapy.

- We are a volunteer group (with limited paid support services) funded by the donations of grateful patients, interested individuals/groups and fundraising efforts.  RBF has influenced the treatment of many patients in countries around the world. It is with the donations of our supporters that we are able to pay expenses, support research initiatives and provide critical published information to patients and physicians worldwide.

- We advocate for research relevant to the use of antibiotics as a treatment and the investigation of infectious agents as possible causes or triggers of rheumatic disease.

Who Was Dr. Brown?

Thomas McPherson Brown was a distinguished physician, educator, and researcher who dedicated his professional life to finding the cause and cure for rheumatoid arthritis. A graduate of Johns Hopkins Medical School, he was the first scientist to isolate a suspected infectious agent, mycoplasma, from the joint fluid of an arthritic patient. His lifelong commitment to the infectious etiology of rheumatic disease began with that research, published in Nature in 1939.

Throughout his years of practice, Dr. Brown treated over 10,000 patients. He also treated a gorilla at the national zoo, quickly establishing antibiotic therapy as the new standard treatment for captive elephants and primates with inflammatory arthritis.  

What Took So Long?

Despite his clinical successes, the medical profession was slow to accept either Dr. Brown's theory or to use his protocol for treating arthritis. The main reason for the lack of acceptance was the discovery of cortisone in the late 1940s. The sometime dramatic, short-term relief of cortisone put medicine on the track of relieving symptoms, and the need to seek a cause became secondary. Physicians came to view the disease as autoimmune, and arthritis research took a wrong turn, which it would not recover from for decades. Before cortisone's discovery and widespread use in the 1940s, many doctors and researchers embraced the infectious theory. Another reason for the lack of acceptance was that the suspected microbes are difficult to isolate in the laboratory.

A renewed interest in that concept is now taking place, accelerated in part by the publication in 1988 of Dr. Brown's book, The Road Back, and a congressional mandate to study antibiotic use in rheumatoid arthritis. Ten years later in the 1998 update, The New Arthritis Breakthrough, by Henry Scammell, the book describes the infectious process and the rationale for using antibiotics as a treatment.  Subsequent literature including research and books now provide additional support for the treatment and/or the infectious theory.

The Scene Is Changing

In 1993, long-awaited double blind clinical trails of antibiotic therapy concluded at six study centers around the United States under the aegis of The National Institutes of Health. The results were published in the January 15,1995 Annals of Internal Medicine. In a press release issued by the NIH, acting director Michael D. Lockshin, M.D. said, "Minocycline is another drug to add to the armamentarium of treatment for rheumatoid arthritis." Graciela Alarcon, MD, University of Alabama rheumatologist and one of the principal investigators of the MIRA trail, called the most significant part of the study the fact that it actually proved that antibiotics such as minocycline can be used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. The results of the long-awaited NIH double blind clinical trails are announced: Minocycline is a safe and effective treatment for RA.

The minocycline in early diffuse scleroderma study funded by The Road Back Foundation and the NIH adds scleroderma to the diseases which respond favorably to antibiotic therapy. Completed in February 1997, the results of this one-year study appear in the November 28, 1998 issue of The Lancet.

Current therapies have failed to modify the long-term outcome of these diseases by treating only the symptoms not the cause.

Minocycline is listed as a treatment for arthritis in some rheumatology textbooks, in Arthritis Foundation literature, on the American College of Rheumatology's website as well as in the US Drug Pharmacopoeia.

What About The Cause?

Research has focused on interrupting the various immune system processes with limited success. Each new era began with hopeful enthusiasm, but most have proven disappointing over the long-term.

The evidence of an infectious cause for many rheumatic diseases has appeared in journals as far back as 1939. Recently, the evidence is mounting with the research of G. A. W. Rook, P. M. Furr, D. Taylor-Robinson, A. R. Cantwell, Jr., A. Vojdani, G. Domingue, E. Wirostko. Also T. McP.Brown, P. Langevitz, G.Alarcon, F. C. Breedveld, M. Kloppenberg, J. O'Dell, Lai Ling-Shen and D. E. Trentham have shown through published studies that minocycline is an effective medication for rheumatoid arthritis and scleroderma. Antibiotics appear to be effective treatment for these diseases in a large percentage of  the cases.

How You Can Help

For more than a decade, this anecdotal evidence has been supported by a growing body of scientific results, based on laboratory research and a large number of clinical trials. In such leading journals as Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, Arthritis & Rheumatism, Rhemuatology and many others, the antibiotic protocol has repeatedly been proven safe and effective in these applications. However, because the patents had already expired on the antibiotics used in these trials, there is no incentive to promote their future use. The Road Back Foundation is dedicated to supplying that missing advocacy, through education and outreach to patients and the medical profession about antibiotic treatment for rheumatic conditions.

The Road Back Foundation supports studies and clinical trials of antibiotics in connective tissue disease, and provides the latest information on antibiotic therapy free of charge to patients and doctors around the world.

These activities are supported entirely by the generosity and gratitude of those we serve. RBF is a not-for profit; all of our officers and directors are unpaid volunteers. In the United States, your contribution is 100% tax deductible.

Information Sources

The Road Back Foundation web site and the groundbreaking books listed below are important resources for people who want to understand antibiotic therapy used in the context of rheumatic disease. There are other books now published that you might explore to further understand the implications of antibiotic therapy used as a first line treatment option or in conjunction with additional approaches.

1.  The New Arthritis Breakthrough by Henry Scammell with Thomas McPherson Brown

2.  Scleroderma-The Proven Therapy That Can Save Your Life by Henry Scammell, US hardcover editions published in 1998 by M. Evens Co., Inc. New York City, NY

Australian paperback edition published in 1995 as The Arthritis Breakthrough by Griffin Paperbacks Adelaide, AS
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The Road Back Foundation does not engage in the practice of medicine. Consult with a physician to assess any medical treatment that is being considered. The Road Back Foundation encourages healthcare consumers to thoroughly investigate and understand all treatments and medications before proceeding. This material is for educational purposes only

The Road Back Foundation
P.O. Box 410184
Cambridge, MA 02141

614-227-1556 (voicemail for RBF business only/not used for patient support)

Email: rbfcontact@roadback.org

www.roadback.org