One patient had relapsed and died and one had died of a blood clot unrelated to the disease.

Although the average follow-up was four and a half months, "no patient still taking the drug and achieving remission has relapsed," Dr. Blanke said.

The other patient relapsed 27 months after primary diagnosis and neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

A schizophrenic patient who responded well in the hospital to the antipsychotic drug Clozaril relapsed less than a month after he was discharged.

Hundreds of remedies had been tried but none yielded promising results all while patients alternately recovered and relapsed for reasons not understood.

One patient relapsed before any post-remission therapy was given.

Fifteen patients relapsed during the follow up, 10 from the steroid group (66.6%) and five from the PEN group (41.6%).

Still, he had watched other drug treatment programs fail because their patients had relapsed.

Some patients relapsed after the therapy, suggesting that the drug will have to be given periodically, the authors said.

Officials also confirmed that 12 patients, apparently recovered, had relapsed after their discharge from a hospital.