About 50 of Reven’s 2000+ shareholders had taken RJX by participating in proof of concept or pilot studies under informed consent and in accordance with applicable regulations the FDA outlines in early research. The principals of the company said that since the freeze of their company, 19 of their shareholders have died because they haven’t been able to get access to the drug.

What patients and investors say they experienced.

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Michigan News Source spoke with multiple shareholders, several of whom had personally received RJX treatments under the FDA protocol outlined above. They all said that the principals of the company kept them consistently updated on both the drug’s development and its business operations, with many noting they had remained invested for more than two decades. For these investors, the SEC’S actions cut three ways: a financial loss, a personal loss for their own health and the loss of what they believed could have been a groundbreaking therapy for others with a global reach.

Why a Michigan investor continues to believe in the company and RJX.

The medical promise of RJX is what first drew in Jeff, a 55-year-old Michigan investor who asked that his last name be withheld. He bought into Reven around 2020–21 because of the drug, he told us, adding, “We all saw the benefit of what it was.”

Jeff even tried RJX himself, hoping it might help lower his A1C. He didn’t use it long enough to judge his own results, but said he had heard of “remarkable” outcomes from Phase 2 COVID trials. Looking ahead, he said he’d “absolutely” reinvest if given the chance. Part of his confidence comes from the company’s communication. “I’ve probably spoken to Brian (Denomme), I would say, no less than 50 times,” he noted. But Jeff is blunt about his frustration with SEC regulators: “They’ve done nothing to protect us at this point. All they’ve done is let all the patents expire and basically trying to bankrupt this company.”

For him, the answer is simple: “The drug is the protection…So why not figure out that they didn’t do anything wrong and let them take this drug to market?”

Wisconsin investor stands by Reven and RJX, even after financial losses.

Deborah Bergman, 65, of Wisconsin, says she invested early “to be part of the greater good.” A shareholder for 21 years, she has closely tracked the company along the way, and in the matter of the SEC’s complaints against the company, she has read every court filing and every piece of the SEC’s “evidence.” She also tried RJX herself, twice – once after a knee replacement and again after battling double bacterial meningitis. About the experience, she calls the drug “miraculous,” explaining, “It is indeed everything they say it is and the world needs this…just imagine a drug that’s like an aspirin and cures so many things and and does it in such an easy and natural way that doesn’t burn out or affect your body.”

Bergman says about the company’s principals: “They have always, always put the shareholders first before themselves.” The litigation has cost her financially, but she insists the Reven team and the drug are worth fighting for. She said, “The SEC’s action has nothing to do with my confidence in

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them…they did nothing wrong.” She added, “What has happened here, by the SEC is nothing but pure manipulation and greed and ignorance,” pointing to both the regulators and the two women she alleges tried to take down the company with dubious testimony. Bergman motivation remains steady: “We want people to be better, and we want people to have a chance to survive.”

Investor believes RJX could be “the next Penicillin.”

Lou Seno, 76, of Harbor Springs, Michigan, has been invested in RJX for nearly two decades and believes the drug has the potential to be “the next penicillin.” He says he would “absolutely” invest again, noting that the trials during COVID looked very promising and that government actions stalled a potential game-changer. Seno praised the company’s leadership, saying the principals were always very good about keeping investors informed on how the trials were progressing. His frustration, however, is squarely aimed at regulators. About the SEC, he said they “ended up in paralyzing the company…” adding that it’s “maddening” that the judges won’t move ahead with rulings in the case.

From infusions to faith.

A Colorado trio of friends who are investors – Greg Merilatt (78), Byron Roderick (85), and Jack May (89) – described to Michigan News Source that they also were users of RJX as well as investors.

Merilatt estimates he’s had 65 RJX treatments, crediting them with easing his peripheral neuropathy and inflammation as well as also helping his two sons’ autoimmune issues. Roderick didn’t have any significant health issues but reported that he had about 50 to 60 treatments, saying he simply felt healthier and even had “smoother” skin. May, a retired optometrist, says more than 100 treatments between him and his wife improved dermatitis, neuropathy, and palsy-related symptoms that he’d never seen respond to standard medicine. These anecdotes aren’t substitutes for clinical trials, but they explain why many investors stayed loyal – and why the shutdown feels both financial and personal to many of them.

Stockholders since 2017, the three men describe trusting Reven’s leadership and how they followed the company’s progress through early trials. Merilatt said the SEC “shut everything down” and added “the SEC is supposed to protect us as shareholders and all they did is cripple us.” May recalled how Volk lost his home after his assets were frozen, living in his son’s basement and selling off belongings. Roderick, after reading the SEC’s mission statement which lists “protecting” investors as one of their main priorities, said simply: “I don’t feel protected at all.”

All three men suspect outside influence. May argued “big pharma” played a role, while Merilatt recalled a TV interview where Volk stressed RJX was meant to complement, not compete with, existing drugs. Just months later came the crackdown – a timeline that still fuels speculation that big pharma interfered once word of the drug got out.

The halt: how a freeze stopped the lab.

For Reven’s principals, patients, and investors, the case for RJX was rooted in data, bedside use, and lived experience. But that story of progress quickly collided with a different narrative – one written not in lab reports but in court filings. In December 2022, the SEC stepped in with a secret emergency

complaint that cast Reven not as a medical innovator but as a company engaged in fraud and misappropriation. What followed was a sweeping asset freeze on January 3, 2023 that Reven argues strangled its very ability to prove RJX’s potential.

In Part Three, Michigan News Source turns from infusion chairs to legal briefs, examining the SEC’s allegations of fraud, Reven’s defense that it was targeted on false pretenses, and the constitutional lawsuit now challenging the government itself.