everyone with chron's or uc u can read this more hope and help is on the way

Protein Appears Key to Intestinal Balance
Researchers say discovery could offer insight into various illnesses
VIEW IMAGE
VIEW IMAGE (HealthDay News) -- A protein that plays a key role in protecting the intestinal tract from bacterial infection and inflammation has been identified by U.S. researchers.

Reduced levels of the protein -- granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) -- could be an underlying factor in severe illness caused by pathogens such as E. coli and intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease, the researchers said.

"The gut normally is in a chronic state of low-grade inflammation that is beneficial," study author Dr. Martin Kagnoff, professor emeritus of medicine and pediatrics at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, said in a university news release.

"This study shows that GM-CSF has a profound influence in the regulation of cells that determine whether the gut lives in peace with this inflammation or becomes severely inflamed during infection," he said. "Any time that delicate balance is disrupted, all heck can break loose."

Kagnoff said the findings might help explain why some people with Crohn's disease benefit from receiving GM-CSF. A greater understanding of the role of GM-CSF in the gut could lead to new treatments based on the protein, he added.

phillykid24 said...

"The gut normally is in a chronic state of low-grade inflammation that is beneficial," study author Dr. Martin Kagnoff.

Does this mean that technically everyone has colitis (colon inflammation)?

Thanks for sharing. Great info!

http://www.highlighthealth.com/research/crohns-disease-treatment-also-helps-protect-the-gut-from-infection/

Here's an article from March of this year that references the original published in this thread. Hopefully this can be tested on humans in the next few years and yield some beneficial results.

Mackster said...
I hate to throw a wet blanket on this but you just know what's going to happen.

If there's an inkling that this could lead to a potential 'cure', you can bet that the big drug companies are looking to relegate it to yet another 'treatment'.

Ton's more money to be made that way.

The accountants are already on it.

Take it to the bank...

hehe true, when was the last time they actually cured something hmm....

There was a study done on this for Crohns:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa041109

You are so right.  It is infuriating - there are lives at stake.  Greed overcomes people's conscience.

Folks,

You have every reason to get angry at pharma companies but this is not the time they can afford to abide by the lobbyist. The pharma companies are going through a rather rough period with patents expiring and the cost of developing a drug is skyrocketing. Lets keep the cost of bringing new drug to the market aside for a while. It takes at least 10 years for a drug to reach market from the day its identified. So the lab to market time is a quarter generation roughly.
The OP has posted a good news, yet it takes a lot of such dots to connect a big picture. This is just a dot (and this is coming from someone who works in the lab)

Drug companies are making too much money and giving kick backs to the GI's for pushing their meds. Know for a fact that my GI was sent on a cruise for pushing Remicade.

Being a laissez faire capitalist to the bone, this thread got me thinking yesterday. If their is a market for a good, it will find a way to market. The only way it could not is if their is something so extraordinary about that particular product or good to make it more beneficial not to offer it. So, I started wondering what is so extraordinary about a cure for a disease. Of course, the main part of the problem is that a cure necessitates an absolute end of technological advancement in that particular line of research. The pinnacle of human success will have been achieved. Good night, game over, drive home safely.

What if a meat packing company invented a line of everlasting gobstoppers made of bacon, ham, and pork loin? Or a conglomerate of fashion designers/textiles companies/dye companies made a line of clothes that would never tear, never fade, and never go out of style? These examples are ludicrous because they could never happen, at least not anytime soon.

I don't know what the answer is, but if the price "big pill" required for me to have access to their cure they found through the sweat of their brow was to pay for a lifetime of my maintenance meds and pay for one dose of the cure, I would happily pony up. If one company did this with their cure, it wouldn't be too long before another company marketed the product for 75% of this price, and then 50% and then...

If companies are deliberately holding cures though, I think that is unacceptable. In that case they should be forced to offer the cure to the public at some max price, 15 years of meds or whatever.

Also, hearing the Secretary of Health and Human services saying, with a smile on her face, that the government is going to be taking $90 billion in profits away from pharmaceutical companies to help "us" really scares me. What are the chances Salix pharmaceuticals is still going to give me $50 off every time I pick up a bottle of Apriso just because I filled out a sheet of paper after that happens?

Mackster, I said the "15 years worth of meds for a cure" as somewhat tongue in check, though I myself would have no qualms about paying if that is what was asked. I also meant we get the cure, THEN pay for meds afterwards, but that's neither here nor there. My point is, what else can be done?

You say my solution of paying for meds after we are cured would be allowing the companies to hold sick people ransom. You seem to have more of an "inside baseball" view of the pharmaceutical industry than I do, and based on what you are describing, you and I are already being held ransom right now, still paying through the nose for inefficient meds, and without a cure. So, yeah, I would pay for medication I'm not using for 30 years if I got a cure in exchange.

Offering a cure for a disease is an absolutely unique product in the whole history of trade. There is no reason for them to promote cures. I would love to know how to lobby ANYBODY to promote the cause of IBD sufferers. I just think if "big pill" is 1/10 as corrupt as I think our legislatures are then we would have to move heaven and earth to make headway. Based on how you describe them, and you seem to be pretty knowledgeable, I would say they are at least that corrupt.

I really like your idea.


If your 60, you will live to be, say 80 on average, so you could pay for 75% of that, 15 years of maintenance meds.

At 50, you'd live to 78, or whatever on average, so pay 75% of that, 21 years.



If you are well off you could pay up front and only pay a fraction of the cost as you would pay as a series of payments over time.





Almost off-topic, but I see the FDA may rescinded approval on an anti-breast cancer drug that it had previously deemed safe and effective. It may be rescinded on the grounds that it is too expensive. Looks like it's an easy way to allow the gov't to control costs-don't let expensive drugs get to the market. The drug is called Avastin. If cost is indeed the reason that sets a dangerous precedent.

seen it several times since ive gotten UC "a patient cured is a customer lost" I dont care what people say about "socialized" medicine, let the gov. take over medicine heres your pills heres the dr you go to, maybe then when they look at the budget deficit the thought might cross their mind "hey lets try'n cure some of these people were spending billions on each year" and then the millions of people that are on disability/welfare due to sickness can get off their hind end and get a job to pay some friggin taxes to further lower the deficit. I know theres a million reasons why it worldnt work and I'd give anyone 1/a trillion odds that it'll never happen. its just a theory. Watch Sicko I really dont like michael moore but it points out that a woman who spends a couple hundred bucks a month for an inhaler in colorado can get the same darn thing in cuba for just a few cents. 

Yeah Red 34, it's oh so easy for things to stray off topic.

You could say it's a barometer on just how strong people's feelings are on important issues.

I guess we can be thankful that Healingwell are not heavy-handed enough to suppress free speech.

Some would argue that any health-related subjects could be considered 'on' topic.

Now where were we?

Oh yeah.....another alleged cure... :)