The only problem with our research though, Aptayl is that whilst we can find some evidence for the promising potential with Gene Silencing, it should also be important, imo to pay close attention to Big Pharma's moves, because these players have access to a lot more information than we could ever find, and they also engage other companies to employee large teams of experts for sourcing market intelligence, and yet remain very secretive in their own internal developments.
The first siRNA to ever reach a phase III trial was terminated early in 2009. In 2010 Pfizer and Roche closed their entire RNAi drug units, followed by Norvatis ending its partnership with Alynlam, and then only a few months ago Merck also closed down its entire RNAi operation.
It's one thing for you or I to believe that Gene Silencing has a promising future, but when we step back and have a look at the bigger picture, there is something not quite right there.
We may not have the answer, but I've come to the conclusion that one of the world's most influential men, Scientist Craig Venter probably does. As posted in the video presentation yesterday, this man sequenced the human genome, and has since developed the first living cell on this planet, who's parents are a computer.
When asked by the press towards the end of that press conference, if his work will have a significant impact on science, you'll remember he answered, "it was a baby step" before going on to say that vaccines like the H1N1 flu vaccine which normally take 6 months for a company to develop and requires harvesting 1.2 billion chicken eggs to make 3 billion doses of vaccine - This will take his team less than 24 hours.
Imo, this gives a whole new definition to investing in local drug discovery companies, or perhaps even a whole new reason not to. Mr Venter now has a team of 400 scientists working with him, receiving significant funding from the US Government, and has also signed large exclusive license agreements with companies including, Exxon, BP and Novartis, just to name a few.
No one person on this planet would carry more knowledge on Gene silencing than the man who spent 15 years of his life sequencing the human genome, and one of his quotes can be cited in the following work published four years ago - perhaps in here lies our answer:
This year, more than 1 million Americans and more than 10 million people worldwide are expected to be diagnosed with cancer, a disease commonly believed to be preventable. Only 5–10% of all cancer cases can be attributed to genetic defects, whereas the remaining 90–95% have their roots in the environment and lifestyle. Therefore, cancer prevention requires smoking cessation, increased ingestion of fruits and vegetables, moderate use of alcohol, caloric restriction, exercise, avoidance of direct exposure to sunlight, minimal meat consumption, use of whole grains, use of vaccinations, and regular check-ups. In this review, we provide evidence that cancer is a preventable disease that requires major lifestyle changes.
After sequencing his own genome, pioneer genomic researcher Craig Venter remarked at a leadership for the twenty-first century conference, “Human biology is actually far more complicated than we imagine. Everybody talks about the genes that they received from their mother and father, for this trait or the other. But in reality, those genes have very little impact on life outcomes. Our biology is way too complicated for that and deals with hundreds of thousands of independent factors. Genes are absolutely not our fate.”
This statement is very important because looking to the human genome for solutions to most chronic illnesses, including the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, is overemphasized in today’s world. Observational studies, however, have indicated that as we migrate from one country to another, our chances of being diagnosed with most chronic illnesses are determined not by the country we come from but by the country we migrate to. In addition, studies with identical twins have suggested that genes are not the source of most chronic illnesses. Instead of our genes, our lifestyle and environment account for 90–95% of our most chronic illnesses.
By 2020, the world population is expected to have increased to 7.5 billion; of this number, approximately 15 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed, and 12 million cancer patients will die. These trends of cancer incidence and death rates again remind us of Dr. John Bailer’s May 1985 judgment of the US national cancer program as a “qualified failure,” a judgment made 14 years after President Nixon’s official declaration of the “War on Cancer.” Even after an additional quarter century of extensive research, researchers are still trying to determine whether cancer is preventable and are asking “If it is preventable, why are we losing the war on cancer?” - Cancer is a Preventable Disease that Requires Major Lifestyle Changes
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