In article <3646af15.6416477 at nntp.ix.netcom.com>, stollman at neverspam.com
>>Yesterday, the chief scientist of Geron was on PBS TV news, talking
>about Geron Research into immortality of human cells. Geron has a pile
>of patents, they spent millions of Dollars on research in the past
>decade. Yet, they do not have a single drug, or any other product in
>pharmacies that a doctor could prescribe to an elderly patent. It is
>highly unlikely that they will have any such product in the foreseeable
>future, as theGeron's CSO said that it still will take at least 10 more
>years to have anything useful. One has to wonder if they are not the
>20th century equivalent of 19th century snake oil cures. Especially
>since you do not hear any confirmation from the big drug companies of
>anything that Geron does. And the big drug companies are not timid in
>issuing press releases.
Your analysis is in-consistent and underscores the differences between
legitimate scientific investigations into aging and the "snake oils" you
complain about.
If Geron were pushing some drug or supplement and basing claims on some
obscure research study or even worse, testimonials, then you might have a
legitimate complaint.
Instead they are conducting studies with some of the most prestigious
laboratories in the world including Sloan Kettering and Cold Harbor. If you
check some of the references in my article or in Medline you will see that
the research is being conducted worldwide and an understanding of how
telomeres are involved in aging is coming into focus.
But it is *research* and the fundamental processes have to be delineated
before any therapy can be developed. That Geron might have some some product
available in just ten years is actually very encouraging. The "normal"
development time of a drug from research thru clinical trials to FDA approval
is usually quite longer.
That you haven't heard anything from other drug or pharmaceutical companies
is not surprising. They usually don't get involved in a product until it is
approaching clinical trials and those they publicize thoroughly. Their
involvement in basic research is far more surreptitious. They don't publish
or announce their findings until they have the processes firmly secured by
patents. Perhaps that's one of the reasons Geron is able to go on PBS while
most other companies are "hiding" their research.
I'm just glad that the research is proceeding and Lifeline Labs. will do its
part in supporting these studies.
Thomas Mahoney, Pres.
Lifeline Laboratories, Inc.
http://home.earthlink.net/~excelife/index.html
