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A
New Way to Unclog the Arteries Last
week’s report of an experimental treatment that seems to remove plaque
from clogged arteries is potentially good news for legions of people
threatened with cardiovascular disease. If the findings can be verified in
larger and longer studies, the medical profession may have entered a new
area in treatments to ward off heart attacks and strokes. Yet this therapy
might never have been pursued were it not for a fluke discovery that made
patenting possible. Otherwise there would have been little financial
incentive for any company to develop the treatment for clinical use. Although
the results announced last week are more suggestive than conclusive, they
clearly have scientists excited. Intravenous infusions of a genetically
engineered protein actually caused fatty deposits on artery walls to
diminish in volume and thickness. The rate of reversal, after just five
weekly infusions, far exceeded anything previously achieved with drugs or
diets used for much longer periods. The substance infused contained a
genetically engineered variant of the key protein in high-density
lipoprotein cholesterol, the so-called good cholesterol. For some
time now, pharmaceutical companies have been trying to develop pills that
might stimulate the body to produce its own H.D.L. cholesterol, thus far
with no great success. An alternative approach, infusing H.D.L.
cholesterol directly into the body, was shown effective in animals more
than a decade ago, but the industry never really pursued it. One reason
was that companies saw little economic incentive in using a normal body
protein for therapeutic purposes, since it would be hard to gain patent
protection. A medicine that could be made and sold by anybody had little
potential for profit. That problem was circumvented in this case by using
a mutant form of protein discovered among some 40-plus inhabitants of a
small Italian village. That made the drug unique, and patentable. Several companies are exploring different approaches to develop their own H.D.L. pills or infusion therapy, increasing the likelihood that science may find a new weapon against clogging of the arteries. That’s good news. But the fact that such a promising treatment was widely ignored because there was no immediate profit potential is disturbing. In theory, the nation’s great web of government-financed medical research institutions should step in to promote development of the kinds of drugs and therapy that industry regards as unprofitable. This story makes one wonder how many similar gaps exist in the vaunted American research establishment. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |
