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        New Message Board Archives >> 2005 General Board Posts >> New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
        
(Message started by: Jimmy_B on Jan 4^th, 2005, 10:41am)

Title: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Jimmy_B on Jan 4^th, 2005, 10:41am

...still exciting news in the help of Chronic & intractable pain.

University of Utah
December-31-2004
Released to the Public Date: 12-29-2004
Reference: This news item was obtained with permission from EurekAlert!

Undergrad discovered natural form in venomous snails in 1979 The natural form of Prialt – a new drug for severe pain approved this week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration – was discovered at the University of Utah in 1979 by an incoming freshman studying toxins produced by cone snails. The student, J. Michael McIntosh, worked in the laboratory of University of Utah biologist Baldomero "Toto" Olivera, the summer before his freshman year as the result of a scholarship interview.
Now, 25 years later, Olivera is a distinguished professor of biology who still studies cone snails and how substances in their venom may be developed into drugs, and McIntosh is a professor of psychiatry and research professor of biology at the university.

McIntosh says his experience as an 18-year-old working in Olivera's laboratory shows "the university provides a very unusual opportunity for undergraduate students to participate in cutting-edge research that can make a real difference."

Olivera says McIntosh first isolated and characterized the painkiller in the venom of the fish-hunting cone snail Conus magus, or magician's cone, which is about 1.5 inches long and thus too small to kill people it stings, as do some larger cone snails.

McIntosh discovered a component or "factor" in the venom affected the nervous system. He purified it and determined its chemical structure. Later, University of Utah biologist Doju Yoshikami determined the factor blocked the transmission of nerve signals through certain connections or synapses between nerve cells.

Olivera and Yoshikami developed the factor – named omega-MVIIA, or omega conotoxin M seven A – for use in basic research in neuroscience. "It blocks communication between nerve cells," allowing researchers to learn what nerve circuits do normally by seeing what goes wrong when the connections are blocked, Olivera says.

The university didn't patent omega-MVIIA because the substance "didn't have a definitive therapeutic use" at the time, he adds.

"As with many basic science discoveries, the clinical importance of the discovery wasn't appreciated at the time," McIntosh says.

Olivera and Yoshikami collaborated in basic research on omega-MVIIA with George Miljanich, who worked at the University of Southern California and later moved to Neurex Corp., where Miljanich explored the substance's therapeutic potential.

Neurex ultimately was acquired by Elan Corp., based in Dublin, Ireland. On Dec. 28, Elan got FDA approval to sell Prialt for chronic, intractable pain suffered by people with cancer, AIDS, injury, failed back surgery or certain nervous system disorders.

The drug is expected to be available in the United States in late January 2005. It is injected into fluid surrounding the spinal cord by external or implanted pumps.

"The commercial product, Prialt, is chemically identical to omega-MVIIA, except that it is made synthetically instead of by snails," Olivera says.

McIntosh now directs research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Utah Health Sciences Center, and treats adolescents and adults who have depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder (manic-depression) and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by vig on Jan 4^th, 2005, 10:49am

I saw these snails on Animal Planet the other day.
Nasty little buggers.
Maybe they have a good side...

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Jeepgun on Jan 4^th, 2005, 10:57am

They aren't bad with a little soy sauce... :-X [smiley=laugh.gif]

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by nani on Jan 4^th, 2005, 11:26am

I would like to put my name first on the list to try it for CH...implants anyone?

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Ueli on Jan 4^th, 2005, 12:23pm

Yuck Frank, soy sauce is concetrated MSG. >:(

For snails definitely garlic. :)

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Jeepgun on Jan 4^th, 2005, 12:37pm

on 01/04/05 at 12:23:27, Ueli wrote:

Yuck Frank, soy sauce is concetrated MSG. >:(

For snails definitely garlic. :)

Garlic sounds tasty too, with a little butter and some olive oil... (Hey! It's lunchtime!) [smiley=laugh.gif]

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by don on Jan 4^th, 2005, 12:54pm

Quote:

For snails definitely garlic.

You forgot melted butter. Drown the little snippers in garlic and melted butter.

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Redd715 on Jan 4^th, 2005, 1:02pm

on 01/04/05 at 12:54:19, don wrote:

You forgot melted butter. Drown the little snippers in garlic and melted butter.

and a little white wine and a few select herbs. A nice warm loaf of crusty bread to sop up all that garlicy buttery goodness from the plate after popping that baby out of it's shell...

MMMmmm MMMmmm GOOD!!!

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Jimmy_B on Jan 4^th, 2005, 4:49pm

http://www.portfolio.mvm.ed.ac.uk/studentwebs/session2/group13/Images/conus.main.1.JPG

You're making me hungry...but I don't think you want to eat these guys... [smiley=laugh.gif] Plus it loses it's efficacy when passing the G.I. track.

"Using the snail's natural conotoxin (MVIIA), a synthetic derivative called SNX-111 was produced. Studies showed SNX-111 to be 100-1000 times more powerful than morphine, without many of the associated side effects."

It will be used much the same way Morphine is used intrathecally. A pump is implanted in the torso which pumps small amounts of the compound into the intrathecal space.

"Another component of the venom has also been identified as potentially useful. There are peptides called conatokins, which have been shown to act as N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists. NMDA receptors have vital roles in diseases such as Parkinson's and epilepsy, hence the potential for pharmaceuticals."
Jimmy

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Jonny on Jan 4^th, 2005, 4:57pm

on 01/04/05 at 13:02:31, Redd715 wrote:

A nice warm loaf to sop up all that garlicy buttery goodness

Hey Jeep,

Someone is in need of a nice warm pinched loaf......LMMFAO ;;D

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Jeepgun on Jan 4^th, 2005, 10:05pm

I'm workin' on it, Jonny. It'll be out to them in a couple o' days! [smiley=laugh.gif]

Title: Re: New Painkiller born (Not really for CH but...)
Post by Redd715 on Jan 4^th, 2005, 10:15pm

on 01/04/05 at 16:57:36, Jonny wrote:

Hey Jeep,

Someone is in need of a nice warm pinched loaf......LMMFAO ;;D

Would you quit loafing around Jonny or

no cheese for you....

Redd the cheese nazi!