terça-feira, maio 06, 2003

Outro futuro também está nos laboratórios

Combatendo o Anthrax....(achei no Instapundit aí ao lado)

Another antibiotic approach pits a virus against anthrax. Rockefeller University microbiologist Vincent Fischetti identified an enzyme from a virus that infects only anthrax-causing and closely related bacteria. In test-tube experiments, the enzyme kills about a hundred million bacteria in two minutes or less. “It drills a hole in the cell wall, and the organisms explode,” Fischetti says. He adds that the treatment should boost the power of existing antibiotics against anthrax, as well as kill resistant strains of the bacteria. His group is currently performing animal experiments to test the enzyme further.

O que isso tem a ver com Economia? Bem, desta vez os reguladores governamentais resolveram relaxar nas exigências (às vezes absurdas) de segurança. Ironicamente, graças a gente da qualidade de Bin Laden...

That’s an optimistic timetable: drug development typically takes 10 years. But Collier may well meet his goal because last year the U.S. Food and Drug Administration moved to speed approval of treatments that improve the nation’s readiness to respond to bioterrorism. Rather than undergoing the usual extensive preclinical animal testing and three-phase human trials to establish drug safety and efficacy, treatments such as Anacor’s, Fischetti’s, and PharmAthene’s will have only to demonstrate effectiveness in two different animal models and safety in one human trial.

Um caso raro de crowd in, he he he.