Sci-Fi Level Medical Advances, Part II (grow new teeth, cure baldness, take a vaccine to prevent heart attacks)

Great post, J.D. Haven’t had time to read all the links yet, but will comment on the one in my area of expertise – Hepatitis C virus (HCV). No need to wait for the nanobots! Current therapies are already in the realm of nano-medicine. Consider the meter stick – 39″ – contains one billion nanometers. HCV cells measure 50 nanometers in diameter – you can literally fit thousands of them on the head of a pin. Current treatment (tx) protocol is pegylated interferon (IFN) and an anti-viral, ribavirin (RBV). IFN is a once a week sub-cu injection, RBV pills are taken twice a day. Now add one or the other of the two new drugs to the mix – protease inhibitors (pro’-tea-ace). Side effects from all of this? Certainly. But….cure rates (defined as no detectable virus six months after completion of tx) have gone from the 50% mentioned in your link to almost 90%, even for the most difficult to treat genotype – 1a. But wait – there’s more! If you call right now, you can get in line for the even newer drugs – polymerase inhibitors (poh-lim’-er-ace). Still in clinical trials, but will most likely be available within 12-18 months. Addition of protease inhibitors cut tx time for 1a’s from 48 weeks to 24 weeks (for most patients). Polymerase drugs will cut that time even shorter (12 wks?….less?) and will eliminate the need for the IFN shot, maybe even the RBV pills. Both of these new drug types actually seek out that tiny little virus cell, invade that cell, find the RNA chain and “snip” one molecule, rendering that cell incapable of replication. Wow! If there’s any interest here, I’d be happy to pass along some educational material I authored regarding infection with viral hepatitis. You’d be providing such a valuable service to your readers! It’s called the silent epidemic – everyone born between 1945 and 1965 needs to get tested! Trust me – chronic viral hepatitis infection gives the phrase “silent but deadly” a whole meaning.