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But I guess 120,000 in Britain plus the rest of us isn't enough to budge Amgen off its big fat selfish butt. Here's my radical concept of the day: How about we ban ownership of medical technologies? Make it illegal to profit from cures for disease. Compensate the scientists who develop it, pay the producers of the drug, all very handsomely. But disallow the raping of poor and defenseless patients aroung the world for the stuffing of the vaults of the Amgens of the world. Disallow the trading of pharmaceutical stocks. Make profiting from curing people illegal. Hmmm, sounds like socialized medicine. Oops. Sorry, bad idea. I can just see a bunch of people lined up at the pharmacy, waiting for hours while vested state employees shuffle as slowly as possible to fill their scrips or impatiently and criptically try to explain why, after three visits and 6 hours waiting, they have to fill out more paperwork and come back next week. I'm coming out of my reverie now. And I remember that nothing can be changed. I'm ok. Look, it's a beautiful day. Let's do something. Enjoy Summer! Rick McGirr Email: [log in to unmask] ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ned Gardner" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 6:20 PM Subject: Re: Drug reverses Parkinson's brain damage > FYI > > *Drug reverses Parkinson's brain damage * > > *Ian Sample, science correspondent > Saturday July 2, 2005 > The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk>* > > An experimental drug for Parkinson's disease has been shown to trigger > new nerve growth in the brain, the first time any treatment has reversed > the brain damage caused by the condition. > > Neuroscientists at Frenchay hospital in Bristol made the discovery when > they examined the brain of a patient who took part in a trial of the > drug GDNF four years ago. All five patients on the trial showed dramatic > improvements. > > Seth Love, a consultant neuropathologist at the hospital, examined the > brain of a 62- year-old patient who had been on the trial but recently > died of a heart attack. He found that nerve fibres in a region of the > brain called the putamen had regrown. The loss of these fibres, and the > chemical dopamine they produce, leads to Parkinson's disease. > > Tests showed that the drug improved patients' control of their movements > by between 50% and 80%. Also, they have experienced no deterioration > since treatment stopped six months ago. > > "This is the first time that any treatment at all has been shown to > reverse the disease process. All the other drugs have just treated the > symptoms," said Professor Love, whose study is published in the journal > Nature Medicine. > > But the finding does not mean a new treatment for Parkinson's disease is > on the horizon. Amgen, the US company that owns GDNF, withdrew the drug > last year amid concerns over its safety and efficacy. > > Helen Garner of the Parkinson's Disease Society said the trial was > encouraging. "This only based on one person though, and there are > 120,000 people with Parkinson's disease in Britain." > > -------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] > In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn