Ending Viral Disease

gyor · Oct 14, 2015

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-end-viral-diseases-with-dracos

I just thought that you guys deserved to see a indiegogo campaign for a drug called Draco, which could cure viral disease. The research is promising, but its in what the scientific community called the valley of death, so it could use your support.

Umbran · Oct 14, 2015

Cute and clever.

The gent in the video is associated with MIT, it seems like he's with the Draper labs, currently. http://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/01/prweb11469349.htm

I find it odd that he needs indiegogo support with one of the biggest universities on the planet behind him.

Kramodlog · Oct 14, 2015

Just saying that he wants to end all virus diseases sounds suspicious.

On the other hand, maybe this is a new way to get "grant money" without having to jump threw institutional hoops.

Umbran · Oct 14, 2015

goldomark said:
Just saying that he wants to end all virus diseases sounds suspicious.

Well, he says he has a chemical that will bind with the RNA that viruses use (and that we don't use in that form) that will cause an infected cell to kill itself. It may not kill *all*, but if it works as stated, it would be a pretty broadly effective agent.

On the other hand, maybe this is a new way to get "grant money" without having to jump threw institutional hoops.

I would prefer he state that in the video, then. "We could get funding from corporations or grants, but those take forever and many hours of work - if you fund us, we're finding a cure that much faster!"

Kramodlog · Oct 14, 2015

Umbran said:
Well, he says he has a chemical that will bind with the RNA that viruses use (and that we don't use in that form) that will cause an infected cell to kill itself. It may not kill *all*, but if it works as stated, it would be a pretty broadly effective agent.

Just like snake oil!

I would prefer he state that in the video, then. "We could get funding from corporations or grants, but those take forever and many hours of work - if you fund us, we're finding a cure that much faster!"

Which goes back to suspicious.

tomBitonti · Oct 14, 2015

Umbran said:
Well, he says he has a chemical that will bind with the RNA that viruses use (and that we don't use in that form) that will cause an infected cell to kill itself. It may not kill *all*, but if it works as stated, it would be a pretty broadly effective agent.

I would prefer he state that in the video, then. "We could get funding from corporations or grants, but those take forever and many hours of work - if you fund us, we're finding a cure that much faster!"

A big problem with targeting agents against tumors is that they are mostly the same as normal cells. The difference between a normal cell and a tumor cell can be a very small thing.

That means that a lethal agent can very easily fail to distinguish tumor cells from normal cells. How does the RNA binding agent obtain an RNA sequence which is specific enough to not kill a lot of normal cells?

If such an agent can be made, wouldn't it be useful for assassinations? Take a DNA swab, surreptitiously (or not) and use it to target one person.

If the proposed agent were as promising as it sounds, I'd think there would be a *lot* of funds available. (And, I'd expect a lot of labs to be pursuing the idea: Why is only this one guy doing research in this area?)

And four years seems too short of a time, and $500,000 a year too little money to bring a drug to market. There would need to be a bunch of trials, which seem likely to cost a heck of a lot more than $500K / year for four years. That seems like it would cover basic research, and barely that.

Thx!
TomB

Scorpio616 · Oct 15, 2015

I'd be less cynical if it wasn't both Indiegogo and flexible funding. I know there have been inroads against viruses and all, like Aleeve and one of the flu strains, but this campaign has just chosen one of the less trust-able set ups.

Umbran · Oct 15, 2015

tomBitonti said:
That means that a lethal agent can very easily fail to distinguish tumor cells from normal cells. How does the RNA binding agent obtain an RNA sequence which is specific enough to not kill a lot of normal cells?

In this case, very simple - he isn't targeting a specific sequence. He claims the drug targets double stranded RNA, which our bodies *don't* generally use, but viruses do.

I was speaking with my wife about this - she's got a degree in biology and biochemistry, and is a veterinarian.

We can't think of a reason a priori, that the described mechanism can't work. It isn't unreasonable to think someone could build a drug that'll bind to double-strand RNA. It isn't unreasonable to have the other end work on the cell's "kill switch" (which is actually a thing, yes). The basic idea of this seems sound, unlike the stated ideas behind most "snake oil" miracle drugs.

Whether he's got it or not, and whether it works as well as suggested, and has no major side effects, is another question entirely.

tomBitonti · Oct 15, 2015

Umbran said:
In this case, very simple - he isn't targeting a specific sequence. He claims the drug targets double stranded RNA, which our bodies *don't* generally use, but viruses do.

I was speaking with my wife about this - she's got a degree in biology and biochemistry, and is a veterinarian.

We can't think of a reason a priori, that the described mechanism can't work. It isn't unreasonable to think someone could build a drug that'll bind to double-strand RNA. It isn't unreasonable to have the other end work on the cell's "kill switch" (which is actually a thing, yes). The basic idea of this seems sound, unlike the stated ideas behind most "snake oil" miracle drugs.

Whether he's got it or not, and whether it works as well as suggested, and has no major side effects, is another question entirely.

Oi, oi! Of course. (Well, actually, I didn't know that about viruses.) But I did mix up viruses with tumors, so duh, and thanks for the correction.

Although ... what exactly is double stranded DNA, if that doesn't mean the two strands that make up regular DNA before it is unzippered to allow protein formation?

Thx!
TomB

tomBitonti · Oct 15, 2015

Ah, double stranded *RNA*, not, DNA.

I found this:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-stranded_RNA_viruses

But not all viruses are double stranded RNA type. I have no idea of what proportion.

Thx!
TomB

Ending Viral Disease

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Umbran

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tomBitonti

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Scorpio616

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