Hi James, I'll try to look at Shaman.
Your right about GILD not being 4-5 years off for CMV?, herpes?, if
it works that is. But my point is that antisense is a new treatment and
it would tend to be resticted at first to more seriously ill patients. This
is due to it's target (Binding to mRNA to prevent translation to a viral
protein needed in it's capsule or needed to reproduce, for example.
This raises the possibility of a long term adverse effect that might
not be anticipated. That's why a justifiable caution would be in order
for otherwise HEALTY patients with oral herpes, for example. The
drug could be mutigenic an a developing fetus in the mother.
Did you hear that hybidon used antisense directly on mutated DNA
in a thalasimic cell culture. The make defective hemoglobin. By
blocking the abnormal spicing gene, they correct the defect. The
news release said it repaired the DNA, but this is not strictly accurate.
It merely blocked the gene, and the drug would have to be given
from time to time to continue the effect. If this works in humans
without serious side effects, there are many genetic diseases that
could be very successfully treated to relieve the symptoms. This
could be one of the biggest breakthoughs in medical history. You
could block cancer from spreading or stop it in it's tracks. But first,
there are many hurtles to jump. Like many promising tech, they do
not usually live up to the promise, But this area is definitely worth
watching.
In the meantime Lidak, if it can get this phase 3 study to show
the positive results it looks like it could, would have an open field
for a long time and would continue to have a good niche even if
other drugs came along eventually. |
