A Protein Killer Could Treat All Cancers, and Possibly All Illnesses
145 replies, posted
I feel like I won't see this released. It seems like whenever there's a discovery or an invention that cures some sort of ailment, I never hear about it again.
[QUOTE=James*;24292243]People will keep getting cancer, unless it's some incredible cure that prevents it developing in the first place[/QUOTE]
Yeah but curing them rather than treating them is less profitable. Especially once the patent runs out.
Right now they can alter treatments juuuuust slightly in order to claim it is more effective. This lets them effectively keep a patent and continue profiting off their ridiculously high prices.
But if a cure arrives that just flat out cures cancer, then they can no longer really tout that lie any longer. If it cures it, it cures it. Nobody is going to buy their bullshit and spend exorbitant amounts on their cure because now they can buy it from other manufacturers who are making it for much cheaper.
Wellll... I'm a weightlifter and something like a 'protein killer' sounds like my worst nightmare.
A cure for several types of cancer was already found a few years ago. For some reason they never started mass-production of it however.
[QUOTE=James*;24292243]Of course this is a possibility, but it's where brand power comes in.
Why hasn't coke been overtaken by cheaper copycats?[/QUOTE]
Coke uses a secret formula. They actually intentionally never filed a patent for coke as we know it because the formula would become public.
As it stands, so long as they maintain the secret formula, nobody can effectively copy them.
[QUOTE=GunFox;24292393]Coke uses a secret formula. They actually intentionally never filed a patent for coke as we know it because the formula would become public.
As it stands, so long as they maintain the secret formula, nobody can effectively copy them.[/QUOTE]
Okay, fair enough.
Going back to the example of drugs, supermarkets for example produce hayfever tablets that are chemically identical to those made by drug companies and sell them at a cheaper price. Yet people still buy the brand names.
[QUOTE=James*;24292519]Okay, fair enough.
Going back to the example of drugs, supermarkets for example produce hayfever tablets that are chemically identical to those made by drug companies and sell them at a cheaper price. Yet people still buy the brand names.[/QUOTE]
But in drastically reduced numbers.
A while back the patent on Loratadine expired and freed it up to be sold as a generic drug. You may know it better as Claritin, the brand name it was sold under. After it expired the price dropped drastically and the company almost immediately launched an extensive ad campaign for Desloratadine, better known as Clarinex. Desloratadine is virtually identical to Loratadine and has in clinical studies been shown to offer absolutely no advantage over Loratadine. They did it because they could patent Desloratadine and claim it is a vast improvement over Loratadine and regain part of their lost market share.
Too bad its going to cost more than people can afford :/
[QUOTE=Comrade General;24290860]I doubt it would cure all cancers, especially ones that are localized to areas outside of drug reach. Such as the lungs, brain, etc.[/QUOTE]
It travels through the blood stream, the lungs and brain receive huge amounts of blood.
[QUOTE=James*;24292519]Okay, fair enough.
Going back to the example of drugs, supermarkets for example produce hayfever tablets that are chemically identical to those made by drug companies and sell them at a cheaper price. Yet people still buy the brand names.[/QUOTE]
I work in a pharmacy and this is completely true. People chose brands like Nurofen over generic brand ibuprofen even though it's the exact same chemical.
[QUOTE=GunFox;24292657]But in drastically reduced numbers.
A while back the patent on Loratadine expired and freed it up to be sold as a generic drug. You may know it better as Claritin, the brand name it was sold under. After it expired the price dropped drastically and the company almost immediately launched an extensive ad campaign for Desloratadine, better known as Clarinex. Desloratadine is virtually identical to Loratadine and has in clinical studies been shown to offer absolutely no advantage over Loratadine. They did it because they could patent Desloratadine and claim it is a vast improvement over Loratadine and regain part of their lost market share.[/QUOTE]
Then who do any companies sell anything if someone else can sell it cheaper? Just because a cure for cancer would be subject to market forces in the same way any other good is, it does not mean it won't be produced.
[QUOTE=Viper202;24290385]Suddenly I Am Legend.[/QUOTE]
That movie used a modified Chickenpox strain or something (a viral disease)
[QUOTE=Comrade General;24290860]I doubt it would cure all cancers, especially ones that are localized to areas outside of drug reach. Such as the lungs, brain, etc.[/QUOTE]
Cancer is actually pretty universal in that it requires blood.
What cancer does is it grows its own sets of capillaries in order to bring in glucose for food and expel waste.
Sharks, for this exact reason, are immune to cancer. Sharks are so primitive in nature that they cannot grow new capillaries or veins. So cancer never exits the infantile stage because it simply drowns in its own excrement and dies.
[editline]02:06PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=James*;24292842]Then who do any companies sell anything if someone else can sell it cheaper? Just because a cure for cancer would be subject to market forces in the same way any other good is, it does not mean it won't be produced.[/QUOTE]
Because they can alter it and retain their patent.
Or at the very least continue selling the drugs because they are TREATMENTS not CURES.
How much of the stuff that you buy off the shelf is a cure? An actual cure? Most, if not all, just treats symptoms.
[QUOTE=GunFox;24292857]Because they can alter it and retain their patent.
Or at the very least continue selling the drugs because they are TREATMENTS not CURES.
How much of the stuff that you buy off the shelf is a cure? An actual cure? Most, if not all, just treats symptoms.[/QUOTE]
Surely a cure and a successful treatment are the same thing?
[QUOTE=James*;24292932]Surely a cure and a successful treatment are the same thing?[/QUOTE]
no. treating the symptoms does not remove the cause.
[quote]Corporations aren't as evil as you, in your angst-filled rage, might think[/quote]
[quote]And then think about the billions that company could make if they release a drug that can cure cancer/other diseases.[/quote]
[quote]Yes but imagine the marketability for something like this.[/quote]
:ramsay:
That's not how pharmaceutical market works, it's not full of clones of Louis Pasteur who have sworn to help the humanity with every fibre of their being. It's a market like every other and would be destroyed by an ultimate solution.
Imagine what would happen to:
-food market if a pill was invented to provide eternal nutrition
-entertainment market if you could pay once and be entertained forever
etcetera etcetera
Obviously my examples are quite silly but I'm only doing this to make it more clear. No company in the market will ever allow it to happen.
[QUOTE=mike;24292953]no. treating the symptoms does not remove the cause.[/QUOTE]
So are antibiotics in removing an infection a treatment or a cure?
[editline]07:14PM[/editline]
[QUOTE=Adbor;24292976]food market if a pill was invented to provide eternal nutrition[/QUOTE]
I'm pretty sure a company not already in the business of selling food would jump on that idea
[QUOTE=James*;24292990]So are antibiotics in removing an infection a treatment or a cure?[/QUOTE]
let's say you have tonsillitis.
they'll prescribe you some antibiotics - ones like penicillin or erythromyin this will cure it.
in the meantime you can probably take painkillers like paracetemol or sometimes (if prescribed) liquid lidocaine to treat the symptoms, reducing the throat pain.
[QUOTE=James*;24292990]So are antibiotics in removing an infection a treatment or a cure?[/QUOTE]
Antibiotics are nifty for pharmaceutical companies. Y'see stuff becomes immune to the old antibiotics over time.
So new ones must be created. And patented.
Antibiotics are their own self sustaining patent cycle. Long before the patent runs out on an antibiotic, it will likely have lost some of its viciousness.
[QUOTE=James*;24292990]So are antibiotics in removing an infection a treatment or a cure?
[editline]07:14PM[/editline]
I'm pretty sure a company not already in the business of selling food would jump on that idea[/QUOTE]
And remove all of their buisness? Why would a food company shoot themselves in the foot.
[QUOTE=Clever_Balls;24293088]And remove all of their buisness? Why would a food company shoot themselves in the foot.[/QUOTE]
Did you read my post at all?
NOT in the business of selling food
Couldn't this potentially effect healthy, non-cancerous cells?
If it doesn't, then that would be amazing.
Why don't we make an enlargement ray
and point it at a bunch of nanobots
so they get big and fight really big tumors
the enter key is my friend.
Yay
[QUOTE=Mr Mcsqueezy;24290629]I'll do a Shaun of the Dead, and act like a zombie, increasingly gaining attention, while you guys run away, get some M4 Carbines, and blow the fuckers' heads off, while somehow avoiding me. So there I'll stand in the middle of the street, with blood all around me. Then I remember I have a radio, and call for a chopper. I'l get in the chopper, kill the pilot and co-pilot and fly off into the sunset, leaving you all behind.[/QUOTE]
No, you'll piss and shit and cower in the corner as countless hordes of undead walk towards you.
[QUOTE=Sickle;24290394]Also; watch it get shelved by pharmaceutical companies.[/QUOTE]
Well it looks like little Fuzzy won't see Christmas again.
Interesting, although if this comes about my dad will likely lose his job. (and no I'm not saying we should hold this back for a few people jobs, it's just a bit of worry for me)
[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;24290306]The biotech company Alnylam announced in June that its drug ALN-VSP cut off blood flow to 62 percent of liver-cancer tumors in those 19 patients, by triggering a rarely used defense mechanism in the body to silence cancerous genes. Whereas conventional drugs stop disease-causing proteins, ALN-VSP uses RNA interference (RNAi) therapy to stop cells from making proteins in the first place, a tactic that could work for just about any disease. “Imagine that your kitchen floods,” says biochemist and Alnylam CEO John Maraganore. “Today’s medicines mop it up. RNAi technology turns off the faucet.”
Here’s another analogy: If DNA is the blueprint for proteins, RNA is the contractor. It makes single-stranded copies of DNA’s genes, called mRNA, which tell the cell to produce proteins. In 1998, scientists identified RNAi, a mechanism that primitive organisms use to detect and destroy virus’s double-stranded RNA and any viral mRNA. Mammals’ immune systems made RNAi’s antiviral function irrelevant (although all vertebrates, including humans, still use RNAi to regulate mRNA activity), but researchers found that introducing small segments of double-stranded RNA to cells could trigger the ancient mechanism and selectively halt the production of specific proteins.[/QUOTE]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OKTWYcwF_g[/media]
Amazing, I cant wait to become a pathologist :D!
I do have to wonder what the ramifications of this could be. Is it possible that certain diseases could adapt and evolve to counter this?
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