NATURE TO THE RESCUE - AGAINPosted on 07/10/2006 3:00:37 PM PDT by FARS
NATURE TO THE RESCUE - AGAIN
The deadly sea snail venom that will take away your pain
By Nigel Hawkes, Health Editor Times Online
A NEW painkiller based on the venom of a sea snail will be available in Britain from today.
Prialt, or ziconotide, is the result of more than 20 years’ research by a scientist born in the Philippines, Baldomera Olivera, who is a professor at the University of Utah.
It is 1,000 times more potent than morphine but, unlike that drug, is not addictive. It is aimed at people suffering from severe, chronic pain who would normally require morphine.
Given by injection into the fluid around the spine, it is the first non-opioid painkiller using this method of administration to be approved in Europe.
Chronic pain is a common problem, surveys indicating that it is suffered by as many as one in seven people.
Back pain and arthritis are the commonest causes, with headache and injury also affecting many people.
Painkillers given by mouth, such as paracetamol or ibuprofen, are the first resort. But those whose pain persists may be treated with painkillers injected into the spinal fluid, using a pump worn by the patient.
Prialt, made by Eisai, is designed for these extreme cases. It is a synthetic version of the venom used by Conus magus, the Magician’s Cone Snail, to hunt prey.
The two-inch snail, native to coral reefs in the Pacific, hunts by shooting out a thin wormlike tube into fish swimming by. The venom is injected into the fish, which are paralysed and can be swallowed whole.
Professor Olivera used to collect the shells of the snails as a boy, then went on to study them.
The venom was discovered by a teenager, Michael McIntosh, who started to help with the research soon after leaving school. Now, 25 years later, he is a research psychiatrist at the University of Utah and still works with Professor Olivera.
Together they analysed the venom and identified one peptide (a short chain of amino acids) that stopped nerve cells sending signals to the brain. It acts by blocking the calcium channels on the nerves that transmit pain signals. Once the channels are blocked, calcium cannot enter the cells, and pain signals are blocked from travelling between nerve cells.
Prialt was licensed in Europe by Elan, which sold it to Eisai, a Japanese pharmaceutical company best known in Britain for the Alzheimer drug Aricept.
There may be more to come from the cone snail, Professor Olivera believes. There are 500 different types, and each produces as many as 100 toxins in its venom. He hopes that they will provide compounds to treat a wide range of conditions, from Parkinson’s disease to depression. ******************************************
PING FOR PAIN RELIEF
Next headache I get, I'm kissing a poisonous sea snail.
Who'da thunk it?
I wonder how a teenager happened onto snail spit as a pain killer? Not suggesting anything, just wondering.
My first thougth was that new headache relief balm that you rub on your forhead. Instead, now you can slap a snail on your forhead--perhaps rub it around a bit so he'll get mad and zap you one. Heck, it could replace botox.
I am sorry, but that made me laugh.
It is 1,000 times more potent than morphine but, unlike that drug, is not addictive
Just the thing when you read the NY Times. :-)
Youch!
No apologies neccesary. That's what I was shooting for. ;-]
My friend has recently received BOTOX injections in his forehead for the migraine headaches he has had every day for years..
The pain is totally gone. It's nothing short of a miracle.
Arkansas is doing research on Botox therapy for chronic migraine patients.
There is hope..
sw
I live with constant pain but I'm OK. Just got a floor model, really good massage chair from Sharper Image at a hugely discounted price and it does help. Thank you for your very kind, heart warming concern.
all the best.
There are 500 different types, and each produces as many as 100 toxins in its venom. He hopes that they will provide compounds to treat a wide range of conditions, from Parkinson’s disease to depression.
This would take some of the heat from the stem cell debate. I hope the man is correct and finds a treatment.
At the rate we have to put up with liberals, we might want to stock up on them snails.
Well it's just like tooth decay, dogs don't get cavities,
something in their saliva, so it's a simple matter to gargle with dog saliva to keep dental bills down.
This information is being with held from the public
by a cartel of Dental Research Companies who suppress
this information every time it becomes publ
When heroin and methadone were developed, it was claimed they were nonaddicting, too, so we shall see.
However, for people who have real moderate to severe pain from documented medical conditions, the addiction rate is like 2 in 10,000. So in the real world of pain control in medicine, not the shadowy world of people looking for a state of "not feeling any pain", addiction is not much of a problem.
To have a nonopiate alternative would be wonderful, especially if it doesn't cause constipation and other annoying side effects of opiates. Currently when it comes to moderate and severe pain, opiates are the only effective meds available, other than a small few that go to treating the cause of the pain, like some of the migraine medications.
So Debra Winger was just having her teeth brushed?
Damn!!! I'm kicking my calcium addiction, pronto.
I think you may have to chew the rascal up and wally it around.
:-)
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