› Forums › Cutaneous Melanoma Community › Conspiracy Theory or Fact With New Drug
- This topic has 7 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 6 years ago by
QuietPoet.
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- April 3, 2018 at 12:27 pm
A new drug originally developed for a rare disease "scleroderma" happened to stop the spread of melanoma by 90% .Michigan State University originally released below article in late 2015.
The University is doing proper clinical trials on "scleroderma" but there is no where to be found clinical trials for this drug on melanoma. Yet big yearly donations are made to the University from guess who "Big Pharma".
Can you imagine for a moment the $$ Billions of dollars lost by these Big Pharma Companies on a drug like this on Stage 4 patients ? It could potentially halt stage 4 by 80% to 90% and thus reduce their revenue by the same amount. So why not make millions of donations to the University for the drug and just put it on the shelve.
Remember they only have a judicial responsibilty to their shareholders , not the health of the general public. I wonder the response from this site ? Given if you click "About Us " the sponsors that pay the bills are "Big Pharma ".
Health + Life + Science & Technology
Published: Jan. 4, 2017
PROMISING NEW DRUG STOPS SPREAD OF MELANOMA BY 90 PERCENT
Contact(s): Richard Neubig , Kate Appleton , Sarina GleasonMichigan State University researchers have discovered that a chemical compound, and potential new drug, reduces the spread of melanoma cells by up to 90 percent.
The man-made, small-molecule drug compound goes after a gene’s ability to produce RNA molecules and certain proteins in melanoma tumors. This gene activity, or transcription process, causes the disease to spread but the compound can shut it down. Up until now, few other compounds of this kind have been able to accomplish this.
“It’s been a challenge developing small-molecule drugs that can block this gene activity that works as a signaling mechanism known to be important in melanoma progression,” said Richard Neubig, a pharmacology professor and co-author of the study. “Our chemical compound is actually the same one that we’ve been working on to potentially treat the disease scleroderma, which now we’ve found works effectively on this type of cancer.”
Scleroderma is a rare and often fatal autoimmune disease that causes the hardening of skin tissue, as well as organs such as the lungs, heart and kidneys. The same mechanisms that produce fibrosis, or skin thickening, in scleroderma also contribute to the spread of cancer.
Small-molecule drugs make up over 90 percent of the drugs on the market today and Neubig’s co-author Kate Appleton, a postdoctoral student, said the findings are an early discovery that could be highly effective in battling the deadly skin cancer. It’s estimated about 10,000 people die each year from the disease.Their findings are published in the January issue of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
“Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer with around 76,000 new cases a year in the United States,” Appleton said. “One reason the disease is so fatal is that it can spread throughout the body very quickly and attack distant organs such as the brain and lungs.”
Through their research, Neubig and Appleton, along with their collaborators, found that the compounds were able to stop proteins, known as Myocardin-related transcription factors, or MRTFs, from initiatinghttps://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2017/promising-new-drug-stops-spread-of-melanoma-by-90-percent/
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- April 3, 2018 at 2:06 pm
You ask if it's "Conspiracy Theory or Fact."
Conspiracy theory? It's an NIH-funded study, so far Petri dishes and mice, findings published about a year ago. Clinical trials may be several years away. From the article: "the findings are an early discovery that could be highly effective"
This seems to sum it up easily and fairly well: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/wellness/2017/02/05/new-msu-drug-offers-hope-stop-spread-skin-cancer/97535852/
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- April 3, 2018 at 3:12 pm
Did you not read the entire article that you presented a link to? I'm confused as to how you come to the impression that: "The University is doing proper clinical trials on "scleroderma" but there is no where to be found clinical trials for this drug on melanoma." —— Because from what I read of the article you referenced (see copy and pasted snip below), the university has continued it's research for this compound's efficacy with melanoma as well. As to why there may be no other researchers outside of MSU doing trials with this compound, we'd have to ask these MSU folks if they have shared their research details and exactly what their "compound" is. How can we consider this a conspiracy by "Big Pharma" when they are indeed putting money into further research and developement of this compound? You have no details to be tossing out such accusations. Am I'm confused by what point your attempting to make?
FROM THE ARTICLE YOU REFERENCED VIA LINK:
“We used intact melanoma cells to screen for our chemical inhibitors,” Neubig said. “This allowed us to find compounds that could block anywhere along this RhoC pathway.”
Being able to block along this entire path allowed the researchers to find the MRTF signaling protein as a new target.
Appleton said figuring out which patients have this pathway turned on is an important next step in the development of their compound because it would help them determine which patients would benefit the most.
“The effect of our compounds on turning off this melanoma cell growth and progression is much stronger when the pathway is activated,” she said. “We could look for the activation of the MRTF proteins as a biomarker to determine risk, especially for those in early-stage melanoma.”
According to Neubig, if the disease is caught early, chance of death is only 2 percent. If caught late, that figure rises to 84 percent.
“The majority of people die from melanoma because of the disease spreading,” he said. “Our compounds can block cancer migration and potentially increase patient survival.”
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- April 3, 2018 at 3:25 pm
Published Feb 5 2017: https://www.detroitnews.com/story/life/wellness/2017/02/05/new-msu-drug-offers-hope-stop-spread-skin-cancer/97535852/
"Though the potential drug is still two to five years away from human trials, the discovery is being hailed as promising since the man-made, small-molecule compound shuts down a gene’s ability to produce RNA molecules and certain proteins in melanoma tumors, stopping the cancer from spreading.
The potential drug is showing promise not only for melanoma but possibly other cancers, such as breast cancer, said Richard Neubig, professor and chair of the MSU Pharmacology and Toxicology department and author of the study.
That’s because the compound treats a pathway in the melanoma cells that is also present in breast cancer cells.
“What we showed is we can very dramatically reduce the metastasis (the spread of cancer),” Neubig said. “We think the potential is tremendous and are excited about the possibilities.”"
Two to five years away from possible clinical trials in humans. Science doesn't move as quickly as we would sometimes like, because things need to proven with exacting specs and controls before it can be tested on human beings. This is why we have the FDA. Personally, I'd be all for human testing on death row inmates, and we could potentially speed up some of these processes.. but hey… then some folks might think that's a tad "Hitler-esque"… sooooooo…
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- April 3, 2018 at 4:08 pm
Dear Mr. Rob578
Thanks for alerting us to another potential treatment for melanoma. This one was discover at Michigan State University as part of an NIH funded research project. After independent confirmation it will need alot of further research to bring it to the point of clinical trials with humans. That can be a while. The time for Anti-PD1 to get to clinical trials was at least 10 years. I am sure that Michigan State University has one or more patents on it already. Therefore it will not fit into the usual theory of "BIG PHARMA" failing to fund further research because there is no potential for BIG profit. If you have actual information otherwise or can give reasons to believe the development of this potential treatment has been blocked please let us know. Perhaps you should contact Dr. Neubig and ask him. Please remember that sometimes university PR departments like to "hype" the research being done to promote themselves.
Meanwhile back at MPIP, we will have to carry on with the people and the treatments that we have now. Melanoma is not a theory nor a conspiracy. It is reality. That is what we should pay attention to, really.
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- April 4, 2018 at 5:15 am
I find this really interesting because an immunologist I went to a couple of years back tested me for scleroderma based on some symptoms — my skin was definitely changing. However, fortunately I didn't actually meet the criteria for it. Come last summer I was diagnosed with stage 1A melanoma. Could be a coincidence . . . or not. In any case, thank you for this link. It's definitely something worth keeping an eye on.
Tagged: cutaneous melanoma
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