Herpes is one of the world’s most prevalent viruses – nearly half a billion patients worldwide suffer from genital herpes and billions more report oral herpes infections. While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented race to develop a vaccine to protect against the coronavirus, researchers have been trying to come up with a vaccine to prevent herpes for at least four decades.New treatment alternative offers discreet and effective way to help patients A vaccine that would protect against both strains of herpes has been a challenge, because the virus has been very good at evading the immune system, said Charles Rinaldo, professor and chair of the department of infectious diseases and microbiology at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.
"As we learned more, we realized it's not a simple matter," Rinaldo told NBC News. "Many have tried to come up with vaccines that use two or three proteins out of the approximately 75 that make up the virus. Those would be quite safe, but in most cases they have not protected well."Īnother approach has been to use a weakened form of the whole virus, Rinaldo said. "In that case, the virus is 'attenuated,' which means that its replication capacity is weakened," he said. "It's great from an immunity standpoint, but it's not as safe.
#ANYONE CURED FROM SYNERGY PHARMACEUTICALS TRIAL#
It can create problems if it enters the nervous system.A Type 1 diabetes patient is the first patient to be cured of the disease with a new treatment, a clinical trial report claims, paving the way for those who also hope to beat it. Per The New York Times, the clinical trial by Vertex Pharmaceuticals has been testing a treatment for decades. Thirty years and $50 million later, the first patient is cured.īrian Shelton, now 64, got his first cell infusion of stem cells, which act like insulin-producing pancreas cells that his body lacked. His body now controls its insulin and blood sugar levels automatically. “It’s a whole new life,” Shelton said in The New York Times report. “To be able to reverse diabetes by giving them back the cells they are missing is comparable to the miracle when insulin was first available 100 years ago.” Peter Butler, a diabetes expert at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in the report.
The study will continue for five years, involving 17 people with a severe case of Type 1 diabetes. This will give 9 million people who are suffering from this disease a chance at a major change in their life. What is Type 1 diabetes?Īccording to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin. Type 1 diabetes is less common and diagnosed in children, teens, and young adults, but can develop at any age.Without insulin, blood sugar can build up in the bloodstream, instead of entering cells to be used for energy.
#ANYONE CURED FROM SYNERGY PHARMACEUTICALS SKIN#
In 2019, it was the ninth leading cause of death, with 1.5 million deaths that year, according to the World Health Organization.Ĭurrently, the cell infusion treatment requires cells that are within a class of immunosuppressants that depress the immune system, said professor Douglas Melton, whose lab pioneered the science behind the therapy, per The Harvard Gazette.People suffering from this disease are at high risk for nerve damage, which can lead to amputations, heart disease, stroke, eye problems such as glaucoma and cataracts, and skin infections. Without the immunosuppressants, these cells would be rejected by the body. “We want to find a way to make cells by genetic engineering that are not recognized as foreign,” he said.
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