New Drug Fights Radiation Effects

1. Jerse
   April 11th, 2008 at 1:42 pm

   Awesome - now I can live in Chernobyl...

2. clinton labombard
   April 11th, 2008 at 2:11 pm

   So... rather than killing off cancer-prone cells, this drug instead protects them. Yeah. Great job.

3. Pudifoot
   April 11th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

   This is so rad. o.O

4. CheeseDuck
   April 11th, 2008 at 2:40 pm

   @clinton labombard

   Its not protecting the cancerous cells, its protecting the NON-cancerous cells =P

5. L
   April 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

   That makes no sense.

   "Protectan CBLB502, tested in mice and monkeys, protects radiation-blasted tissues by shutting down this cell death programme, which the body normally turns on in cells with damaged DNA to keep them from multiplying"

   So now the cells with damaged DNA are allowed to multiply? Way to override the body's natural wisdom. What crazy new forms of tumours is this drug going to cause?

6. Tim
   April 11th, 2008 at 3:35 pm

   Anyone who follows the pharamceutical scene knows that the side effects of drugs are potentially more harmfull than the reason they are prescribed.

   These researchers and studies are paid for by the pharmaceutical indusry. Big Pharma can and does influence the way the research is done and the results that are concluded. They only care about stock prices and making billions of dollars. They could care less if the drug works or if it significantly contributes to 20,000 new cases of diabetis or the proliferation of suicide/murder cases around the world.

   It's all about the almighty dollar to Big Pharma.

7. Tom
   April 11th, 2008 at 3:39 pm

   For people exposed to high levels of radiation, it's probably better to be protected from immediate death by radiation poisoning, even if it makes future cancer a certainty. Better to die later than now, in most cases.

8. Stratoblogster
   April 11th, 2008 at 3:52 pm

   Vit B-3, Niacin is supposed to have similar benefits.

9. Another Jake
   April 11th, 2008 at 4:21 pm

   Tim, in short, you're wrong. <--virologist
   It's a common conspiracy-theory-style assumption. If a company is big, and makes profit, it must be evil and corrupt. This assumption is not supported by the evidence.

   And btw, the FDA's drug trial program is the single most thorough evaluation system in the world... for ANYTHING... by a landslide. They check and recheck and recheck research to a level that you cannot imagine. I personally was absolutely astounded when I learned the extent of this process.

   In addition, "Big Pharm" is responsible for discovery, function, efficiency, and production of most of the drugs that you take for basically anything. If it were not for Pharmaceutical companies, you would probably never have been born and if you had, you would have had a slim chance to reach the age that you are now.

   Also, a single ATTEMPT at producing a drug for cancer treatment typically costs "big pharm" $500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million Dollars) and many of those drugs fail and are trashed. In addition, those drugs that pass the FDA approval process have been patented for long enough that the patent is nearly expired. As soon as that happens, the drug company is SOL.

10. Another Jake
    April 11th, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    On topic:
    I happen to live within 5 miles of a nuclear power plant and every year we get the "what to do in case of a 'nuclear incident'" pamplet in the mail letting us know just that. Unexpectedly, it is remarkably survivable. In short, if you know what happened early, get the hell out of Dodge...upwind. If you find out later or know traffic will be too heavy to escape, get in your basement, pile a ton of stuff up in a corner, and get under it. The radiation won't go through that much material. You only really need to be down there for a few days. By then, the radioactive material will have settled. That's when you get the hell out of Dodge.
    In every case, however, you're told to take an iodine tablet or smear some beta-dine on your arm to flood your thyroid with cold iodine. This will prevent the radioactive iodine from the meltdown from accumulating in your thyroid and wrecking all the DNA in the vicinity. It is fantastic to know that soon, there may be another pill you can pop to help with the inevitable radiation you will come in contact with during your escape.

11. floMaster5000
    April 11th, 2008 at 5:40 pm

    as much as i am for advancement in medicine, this drug is questionable.

    first, how is saving cells with damaged DNA good? the body destroys these cells for a reason. in extreme cases i can see the long term effects trump the short, but it sound like we are just fighting cancer with cancer.

    second, death by radiation is the most horrific way to die. you essentially drown in your own blood over a period of days to weeks. now i doubt that the animals being tested on were given such extreme doses, but how can scientific achievement be built on this overtly inhumane treatment of animals.

    a civilization can not be built on oppression

12. Another Jake
    April 11th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

    Without animal testing, there is no medicine. There is no biomedical science. There are never any new drugs. There are never any new vaccines. All diabetics will die for lack of insulin.... shall I continue?

13. Swing
    April 12th, 2008 at 12:49 am

    Just dose up on the Rad-X, you'll be fine.

14. Thomas
    April 12th, 2008 at 1:05 am

    Dieing cells can live to see another day. Does anyone else foresee zombies in the immediate future? Just saying.

15. Thomas
    April 12th, 2008 at 1:06 am

    ^Radioactive zombies, that is.

16. Scotchdrnkr
    April 12th, 2008 at 7:53 am

    Take if from somebody that has survived chem & radiation therapy. If this drug helps to protect the good cells surrounding the treatment site it a great advancement in cancer treatment.
    As far as the statement saying it shuts down the bodies automatic system of getting rid of cells with bad DNA. That will definitely be of lots of concern. Does it permanently shut it down or just temporarily do this? If its permanent then it will only extend your life for a short while. If its reversible it could extend your life for a long time.

    This blog doesn't go into enough detail to really decide if it would be worth the side effects or not.
    I would have to do much more investigation into this treatment before I decided weather to take this treatment or not. But I do beleive it is a step in the right direction as long as it is used properly.

17. Another Jake
    April 12th, 2008 at 9:32 am

    @Scotchdrinker:
    The effect will be temporary. It is not a gene therapy and every drug has a half-life. Also, drug treatments of cells only last until your body filters out the drug. I would think of this drug like an antibiotic; you have to take it every so often during exposure to get the job done. That fits with the nature of this drug and its function at least as I understand it. I cannot imagine even in theory, a drug that could do what this article states without being a temporary fix.

    BTW, that's a good thing, as you say. I think there is no question here that if the drug were permanent, that'd be BAD.

18. Another Jake
    April 12th, 2008 at 9:43 am

    ... I suck at posting on this site... no "EDIT POST" button.

    @Scotch again:
    This might give very good information and research fodder to scientists like yours truly (yay), but it would make a lousy cancer treatment drug. The drug appears to be untargetted (if that is a word) so it will also hit the cancer cells. The whole point of chemo-therapy is to convince the cells to kill themselves and/or the body to kill them. Taking this drug during Chemo might just protect the cancerous cells from apoptosis... and in the words of Egon, "That would be bad."

    BTW, congratulations on surviving cancer (in a sad/blunt few words). God Bless the rest of your health.

19. XuYu
    April 12th, 2008 at 10:28 am

    Now if they'd just come up with a drug to protect me from HOMOKASSU...

20. Karl Ferreira
    April 14th, 2008 at 11:41 am

    Apoptosis is the process by which people die when they are being resuscitated after cardiac failure. If this drug could be administered during chest compressions maybe people could be brought back to life after longer periods of time.

    See the following link for a description of apoptosis: http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=860#more-860

21. vfdxf
    April 14th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

    wow like this is old knews!

    visit infowars : )and look some of this stuff up

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