drbio45, You're living in a fantasy world regarding vitamin B6.
VITAMIN B6 IS PYRIDOXAL-5-PHOSPHATE, as well as the other pyridoxal variants. They are interconvertible in the body. Even if MCU's strategy works, which is highly speculative, my point is that I don't see why hospitals wouldn't buy generic pyridoxal-5-phosphate and use that intravenously instead of some branded, expensive drug. Regarding your theory that MCU is somehow using a special derivative of B6 by using pyridoxal 5 phosphate, it's wrong. Read these two paragraphs from a paper on B6 pharmacology and metabolism: Note the bolded sentence...
Vitamin B6 functions as a coenzyme in 100 enzymatic
reactions involved in the metabolism of amino acids,
carbohydrates, neurotransmitters, and lipids (1 ). Pyridoxine
(PN),5 pyridoxal (PL), pyridoxamine (PM), their phosphorylated
derivatives [pyridoxal 5 -phosphate (PLP) and
pyridoxamine 5 -phosphate (PMP)], and the end product
of vitamin B6 metabolism, 4-pyridoxic acid (4-PA), are the
major forms of vitamin B6 found in mammalian tissues
and body fluids (1 ).
In the diet, vitamin B6 is predominantly present in
three forms, PN, PM, and PL. After passive intestinal
absorption, the major part of the vitamin is delivered to
the liver and converted to PLP (2–4). PLP is available for
other cells only after being hydrolyzed to PL by alkaline
phosphatase, but most cells have pyridoxal kinase activity
and are therefore able to rephosphorylate PL to PLP (4, 5).
Most of the PL in excess of tissue requirements is oxidized
to 4-PA by the liver and excreted in the urine (4 ).
Source:
Plasma Vitamin B6 Vitamers before and after Oral Vitamin B6 Treatment: A Randomized Placebo-controlled Study
Mustafa Vakur Bor1a, Helga Refsum2, Marianne R. Bisp1, Øyvind Bleie3, Jorn Schneede4, Jan Erik Nordrehaug3, Per Magne Ueland4, Ottar Kjell Nygard3,4 and Ebba Nexø1. Clinical Chemistry 49: 155-161, 2003
If MCU has a successful phase 3 trial, which I don't think will happen, it will be sheer luck, as there's no mechanism known by which vitamin B6 would work. The company is based on phenomenology. It's tough enough to do drug discovery and development when the science is well-understood. MCU is just playing roulette and betting on 00.
RE42 |
