http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0022572
The brainiacs at MIT have been at it again. Meet "DRACO" (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizer) , a universal anti-viral drug that may be able to cure anything from the common cold to HIV.
Early tests have had outstanding results in the lab and in mice. 11 out of 15 viruses were killed in dishes and mice were cured of H1N1. The poetic part is the drug causes infected cells to "commit suicide". I like the thought of that for some reason.
Lots of testing still to be done, but if this pans out it may be the biggest leap forward since Penicillin. That might also be it's downfall. Nobody wants to make a one size fits all miracle drug, there's no money in it. They want to make designer cures for specific diseases.
DRACO may go the way of the car that runs on water, man.
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2 comments:
Hey! Eagles references are my schtick...
DRACO- what an awesome name. Although it sounds spooky- in a sort of overlord, dark master kind of way...
Anyway, if it's really 'all that' there will still be gazillions to be made from it and I'm less inclined to worrying about it going the way of the 100 mpg carb. People that design and even the manufacturers of drugs really want to to see people get better and maybe even cure a disease.
While there are other examples drug companies do well to break even on vaccines.
A drug company can spend 100 million dollars or more before a product ever comes to market.
A drug like this could actually be a big money maker because of margins- if it treats that many things they could get it out there and concentrate on making more of it, more cheaply.
Exciting stuff.
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