Big Bucks in Backs

[become]

I see in today's NY Times that Medtronik is paying 1.6 billion to a US doc for spine-related patents.
And that they bring in 1.8 billion per year from their spinal business alone.

"Dr. Michelson, who lives in Los Angeles, said that he was pleased with the deal."

No wonder we don't hear much about regenerative technologies. I wonder if that sort of money put into alternative technologies might not produce some significant results....and a lot more quickly than otherwise.

[Harrison]

Yup, back repair is big business! But my new disc is working great, so I'm not complaining.

[biffnoble]

Become:

Medicine is huge business. It's all about money.

That's how the world's economy works.

Money makes the world go 'round. For better of worse. And many people on the board have had there lives restored thanks to the tech/$ money axis.

I'm not advocating anything. Are you saying that there is some other way that $ could be used that would produce more useful better medical tech than what's out there now?

The irony of life is the more humans there are the less humanity there is.

[JL]

Gene therapy is going to happen. The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine is researching the possible application of gene therapy technology for the treatment of disorders stemming from intervertebral disc degeneration. Biologic approaches such as gene therapy seek to increase proteoglycan content, thereby increasing the degree of disc hydration and delaying or preventing the progression of the degenerative process. The claim is the disc provides suitable environment for gene transfer and a number of potential targets for intradiscal gene therapy has been identified. In spite of progress the technology is still new.

[Alastair]

I think I have put this on board in various sections previously so I will try and put it all on together about gene therapy and growing new discs.

For about six months we have been growing discs to replace ones that are degenerated in a city called Manchester in the UK. This is still research so very little is known about it further.

I did report about the growing of gene material taken from inside the patients nose. This was done in Portugal because it was illegal either in the UK or the USA at the time. A patient who had a three centimetre gap in their spinal cord had material taken from their nose and this was grown and implanted in a three centimetre gap of their spinal cord. The gene material from their nose grew and linked up the spinal cord, the patient who previously was paralysed from the waist downwards, now had sensation in their legs and was walking (true with a Zimmer frame), however greater progress was to come as it was early days.

The patient was transferred to an American hospital, and I have heard nothing since. They said that this could be the usual recovery in five or six years time if the research continues. It would seem that gene material they implant regrows any material that was previously there, so this sounds as if you could inject this between vertebrae and it would start growing a disk, or repair the damage to the disk.

I know this all sounds a little bit "fantasy land" but this is the way which technology is taking us.

On this particular UK TV programme they also showed a lady who had half of her face burnt away, they showed the before and after photos -- -- -- and they had done a similar thing and her face tissue had re grown back and you could hardly tell that she had had any problems at all. It's going to be some years before this is in use to the general patient -- -- -- but is out there and is hopeful.
Best,
Alastair

[ans]

Great news Alaistair. Wonder how the cells know when to stop growing. Gene therapy for DDD is huge, e.g.

http://www.google.com/search?q=gene%20therapy%20disc

+ ++

Venture capitalism drives advancements:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&...-bc-us-medtronic.xml

[Alastair]

Self-repair gene therapy promise

Gene therapy experts say they have found a way to persuade cells to repair themselves.
Instead of replacing a faulty gene, the new approach harnesses the cells' own correctional mechanisms.

German researchers showed a drug could influence the way a gene behaved in patients with a debilitating genetic condition.

Details of the research are being presented to the European Society of Human Genetics conference in Amsterdam.

This work shows that it may be possible to stimulate a related gene, and reduce the symptoms of the disease

Dr Fred Kavalier, British Society of Human Genetics

The research focussed on spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a relatively common inherited disease, and the leading cause of death in infants, affecting about one in every 6,000 newborns.

Due to degeneration of the motor neurons in the spinal cord patients develop muscle weakness and atrophy of the legs, arms and trunk.

In patients with SMA the survival motor neuron gene (SMN1) is deleted, but they all carry a copy gene (SMN2).

However, this only produces about 10% of the correct protein which is insufficient to prevent the diseases.

The severity of the SMA is influenced by the number of SMN2 genes, which normally vary between one and four - the more copies there are the better the patient fares.

Protein levels boost

The researchers, from the Institute of Genetics at the University of Cologne investigated a drug called valproate, which is already used to treat epilepsy.

Lab tests had shown it could increase levels of the SMN protein by up to four times.

Valproate was also found to raise SMN levels in brain tissue.

The team first treated 10 parents of children with SMA with valproate for four months.

It was found that using the drug significantly increased SMN levels in blood.

Following this, 20 SMA patients were treated with valproate.

Seven showed increased SMN2 levels in their blood.

'A small step'

However, it remains unclear whether SMN expression in blood reflects SMN expression in motor neurons, and would therefore have an effect on muscle strength.

But the researchers said they hoped their findings could have significant benefits in the future.

Professor Brunhilde Wirth said: "The long-term outcome could be both improved therapy to enable a better quality of life for SMA patients, and also the introduction of neonatal screening so that therapy could be started before the first symptoms appear."

Dr Fred Kavalier, of the British Society of Human Genetics, said: "This work shows that it may be possible to influence the behaviour of genes with drugs.

"This is not a cure for SMA, but it's a small step along the road that may lead to an effective treatment.

"It is exciting to discover that a drug that is used to treat epilepsy may also be helpful in a completely different condition."

Professor Robin Lovell-Badge, head of genetics at the Medical Research Council's National Institute for Medical Research, said it was crucial to obtain detailed basic understanding of specific genes, and the nature of the defects responsible for genetic disease before the knowledge was applied to treating patients.

He added: "It is still too early to say whether or how well these particular approaches will work in the clinic,.

"But the preliminary results are encouraging and the knowledge gained will hopefully generate yet further tricks to bypass the unlucky set of cards that some people are dealt."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4976984.stm