Sean C. -- A new drug is being developed in the ongoing battle with sickness, this drug will target viruses, something that used to be extremely difficult to do. So far its been tested against 15 different viruses from H1N1 to a simple stomach virus and has successfully neutralized all of them. In the past there have been a few medicines able to cause difficulty for a few specific viruses, in short the majority of viruses have been almost untouchable by medicine. When viruses infect a cell they inject double stranded RNA into it, which is not found naturally in any human or animal cell. The new drug, named DRACO (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers) works by targeting cells with these double stranded RNA in them and then causing them to self destruct. This means that in theory this medicine could stop most viral infections. so far it has only been tested on mice but has proven extremely effective and has yet to show adverse side effects.
If these claims are true then this will be one of the largest medicinal breakthroughs ever! Everything from the common cold to A.I.D.S. is a virus and theoretically this can stop any virus. the only possible side effect i can think off is that if the virus is infecting to many cells then causing those many cells to self destruct could do harm, but then again a dead cell is probably better then a virus infected one. If/when this becomes commercially available and mass produced what will the costs be? How long will the drug take to work and how long will it stay in your system? How difficult will it be for viruses to adapt to this new drug, and how might we change the drug to make it work again? My expertise in these fields are very limited so i can not judge if what the article says is feasible or not but if it is that would be very cool.
If these claims are true then this will be one of the largest medicinal breakthroughs ever! Everything from the common cold to A.I.D.S. is a virus and theoretically this can stop any virus. the only possible side effect i can think off is that if the virus is infecting to many cells then causing those many cells to self destruct could do harm, but then again a dead cell is probably better then a virus infected one. If/when this becomes commercially available and mass produced what will the costs be? How long will the drug take to work and how long will it stay in your system? How difficult will it be for viruses to adapt to this new drug, and how might we change the drug to make it work again? My expertise in these fields are very limited so i can not judge if what the article says is feasible or not but if it is that would be very cool.
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