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Venoms and cures
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by timberrattlesnake89 on May 2, 2005
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I just saw this in the Atlanta Journal Newspaper over the weekend. One is about Gila Monster venom and Diabetes and the other is Scorpian venom may help to treat cancer.
http://www.ajc.com/hp/content/auto/epaper/editions/yesterday/news_244738fa4226515500ac.html
Washington --- Type 2 diabetics have a new option to help control their blood sugar, a drug derived from the saliva of the Gila monster --- but one that must be injected twice a day.
The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved Byetta, known chemically as exenatide, the first in a new class of medications for Type 2 diabetes --- but for now, it's supposed to be used together with older diabetes drugs, not alone.
Makers Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly & Co. said the prescription drug would begin selling by June 1, but wouldn't provide a price.
About 18 million Americans have diabetes, the vast majority the Type 2 form, in which the body loses the ability to turn blood sugar into energy because it either doesn't produce enough insulin or doesn't use it correctly. Type 2 diabetes is closely associated with obesity.
When diet and exercise aren't enough to control Type 2 diabetes, patients can try certain oral medications to lower blood sugar. The most common drugs, called sulfonylureas, spur the body to produce more insulin.
When those drugs fail, adding Byetta to them offers patients an option to try before resorting to insulin injections.
Byetta is the first so-called ''incretin mimetic,'' meaning it mimics action of a hormone called GLP-1 that's secreted by the gut to spur insulin production after a meal --- but only when blood sugar is high.
That's important, noted FDA metabolic drugs chief Dr. David Orloff, because other diabetes drugs spur insulin secretion even if blood sugar already is low, leading to the risk of hypoglycemia.
Byetta is a synthetic version of a protein found in the saliva of the Gila monster that works similarly to the human GLP-1.
In studies, Byetta was given in addition to sulfonylureas, another common diabetes drug called metformin, or a combination of the older treatments.
Adding Byetta triggered about a 1 percent drop in patients' A1C levels, an important measurement of blood sugar averages, Orloff said. That's consistent with blood sugar lowering caused by other diabetes drugs, he said.
The most common side effect was nausea. Also, patients who take Byetta with a sulfonylurea may need doses of the older drug reduced to avoid hypoglycemia, the manufacturers said.
The FDA encouraged the manufacturers to submit additional studies to show whether Byetta could eventually become a stand-alone treatment for Type 2 diabetes.
Next is The scorpians venom.
http://www.ajc.com/hp/content/auto/epaper/editions/yesterday/news_2447387a4226312f004c.html
Birmingham --- In a small office walled with stacks of the latest brain cancer research, Dr. Harald Sontheimer seems most intrigued by the possible solution encased in a glass paperweight on his desk --- a giant Israeli scorpion.
Sontheimer and his research team at the University of Alabama at Birmingham discovered that the chemical compounds in this scorpion's venom could be used to kill cancerous cells in the brain without harming the healthy cells nearby.
An initial clinical trial of 18 patients found that all the participants reported "feeling much better" after the treatment. Two even went into remission.
Now, UAB's Brain Tumor Treatment and Research Program has teamed with the City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles to enter the next phase of testing: administering multiple doses of the drug to about 60 patients from the South.
"It's a beautifully simple story, really," Sontheimer said.
It's about the giant Israeli scorpion, also known as the Israeli golden scorpion, and one of its victims, the cockroach. The scorpions, which can grow up to 5 inches and are found in the deserts of North Africa and Southwest Asia, have venom that's safe to humans but fatally paralyzing to cockroaches.
The toxic molecules of the venom target a specific compound found in the muscles of the cockroach. Sontheimer found that the same compound that makes cockroach muscles vulnerable to the scorpion venom also exists in cancerous cells in the brain.
"We scientists look to poisonous reptiles and insects because by nature they interact with the nervous system," said Sontheimer, a native of Germany who is director of UAB's cellular and molecular biology graduate program.
Many scientists have studied the possible use of venom treatments for cancer. At Texas A&M University at Kingsville, researchers are trying to stop the growth of various cancers by using snake venom to destroy the blood vessels that sustain the malignancies. A group of Australian researchers is testing whether bee venom can slice through a variety of cancer cells and ultimately divert patients from the harsh side effects of chemotherapy.
An unorthodox "scorpion potion" consumed by about 3,000 cancer patients in Cuba also has shown promise, at least from reported anecdotal evidence.
Sontheimer is trying to determine if the venom from the Israeli scorpion that binds to the cancer cells in the brain can be an effective treatment for primary brain tumors. These malignancies afflict about 18,500 people in the United States annually and kill 12,760 each year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Sontheimer said his venom-derived drug, produced by his Birmingham-based company, TransMolecular Inc., passed the first phase of clinical trial without endangering the lives of the 18 brain tumor patients being injected with various-sized doses in the brain. He said all of the patients met or surpassed the average survival time of 18 weeks after taking various one-time doses of the drug. The two remission cases received the largest doses, at 0.5 milligrams.
Researchers hope that administering multiple doses during the next phase will show it can prolong patients' lives indefinitely.
Dr. Burt Nabors, who is overseeing the next clinical trial, said he expects the current lack of safe, effective treatments for cancerous brain tumors will speed up the Food and Drug Administration approval of the venom-derived drug.
"In the case of brain cancer, there really is no good treatment. So the bar is set much lower for approval," Nabors said.
The second phase is crucial because it determines the effectiveness of the drug among a larger group of patients, said Dr. Richard Bucholz, a professor of neurosurgery at Saint Louis University, which participated in the first phase with three patients and had one of the two remission cases.
"The major issue is, does it work. A couple going into remission is fantastic, but that was from a small group," he said.
Bucholz said the only downside so far is that the drug is injected directly into the brain through a tube --- a relatively brief procedure, but still risky.
"It's not like taking a pill. I don't think we can come up with a molecule that can kill these cells that can be taken orally," he said.
Malignant brain tumors kill most patients within a year of diagnosis. Currently, the most effective treatment available is surgery, which only removes large, visible masses and can leave behind scores of microscopic ones that can continue to grow.
Phillip Higgins
Live and Let Live
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RE: Venoms and cures
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by Viper_Boy on May 4, 2005
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I saw that on the Fox News Channel. I've always believed that there is a reason for everything. I never really knew why some snakes had venom while others constricted their prey though. I guess that solves it. The reason why snakes and other animals have venom is for cures for deadly diseases. There just might be a snake out there that holds the cure to cancer, Muscular Dystrophy, or even AIDS! Maybe this find will spark the interest in some scientists and others will find even more cures!
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