Posted on 07/11/2006 3:54:26 PM PDT by GretchenM
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.
Photo caption: "The Magician's Cone Snail [in photo, above] hunts by paralysing fish."
What about the poor snails? We shouldn't exploit lower life forms.
I know ... I know ...
but it's one of those cycle-of-life things (to quote Hopper in "A Bug's Life").
expect that all the people now frequenting medical marijuana establishments for legitimate chronic pain will rush out for this, since it, too, will do away with their pain!
Everyone else thinks so, too, right?!
I'd read about this in the research stage a few years back. Thanks for posting this!
I wonder what the side effects are. {{{sigh}}}
Cone shells can be lethal to people collecting them as well. Their poison is very potent.
There are millions with crumbling spines who will be begging their Docs to give this a try....hopefully it will evolve to longterm usefulness in facet and medial branch blocks, too.
non-adicting? When they came out with heroin they claimed it was non-addicting. SSRIs, Ritalin, Vallium, Ambien... the list goes on and on of new drugs that were touted loudly to be non-addicting. Each turned out to be worse than the older drugs they replaced.
I don't believe it
"Deadly" snail? Yeah, but a bullet in the brain will also take away pain.
Well, actually, Zincontide has a number of side effects, such as the discomfort of having to take a shot right into the spinal column. Also, the difference between a theraputic dose and a toxic dose, is, I believe, not so wide.
But, this is only the first of the new drugs based on the peptides of cone shells,
More promising, in my opinion is a drug called ACV1, still in human trials, which 1- does not require to be injected into the spine, only subcutaneous, 2- very safe, 3- no possibility of abuse, 4- may be orally available.
Anyone interested can google ACV1 and find many articles.
This present conopeptide drug (Zincontide) is only the first, and the crudest of what may well become a widely used part of our drug arsenal.
Head-On, Apply directly to the forehead
Head-On, Apply directly to the forehead
Head-On, Apply directly to the forehead
Interesting. Thank you.
jm
The Conus Textile and Conus Geographus are also deadly.
http://grimwade.biochem.unimelb.edu.au/cone/main.html
http://seashellsofnsw.org.au/Conidae/Pages/Conus_textile.htm
http://publications.nigms.nih.gov/findings/sept02/snails.html
http://www.coneshell.net/pages/c_geographus.htm
The only side effect is it causes some people to be paralyzed from the upper lip down to their feet.
Check this out (ACV1 related, but still a conopeptide for pain)-
A non-addictive and effective painkiller? Quick, better make it illegal!
Yeah! Because after all, who wouldn't want to walk around 24/7 with a tube inserted into their spine and a pump in their pocket. Awesome!
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