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The two most important things this blog addresses have shown up at a party together. Two things that would not be expected to be together anywhere else but this blog have been spotted in public in the same place at the same time!!
I am, of course, talking about healthcare and llamas.
Frances, an incredibly astute and loyal reader spotted the following in the Wall Street Journal:
When a Llama Is Laid Back, It’s Not the Only Beneficiary
By MATTHEW DALTON
The engines of innovation for a promising new class of pharmaceuticals are covered in soft hair and tend to spit when irritated.
Scientists are exploiting an unusual feature of the immune system of llamas — a South American relative of the camel — to develop new treatments for diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, cancer and Alzheimer’s. Llamas, camels and their alpaca relatives are one of only two animal families that create extremely small antibodies, the molecules that are the soldiers of the immune system.
My first thought when I read this was: whoa. I tend to think in short phrases like that. My second thought was: could it be that I was somehow prescient? Did these scientists get their idea from my blog??? Should I get royalties???
It seems so clear: they had to get the idea from this blog. Nobody else has such a….unorthodox thought process so as to put llamas and healthcare together. Wow. I feel proud.
The article continues:
Dr. Muyldermans, who was part of the team led by Mr. Hamers, says his lab continues to find potential new treatments for all kinds of ailments. One candidate: an antidote to scorpion venom.
Drugs using larger antibodies usually must be injected, because the antibodies will be destroyed in the stomach or the lungs. But smaller antibodies are more resistant to such extreme environments, which means the drugs can be taken orally or by inhaler. Smaller antibodies can also be grown using bacteria, much cheaper than using the mammal cells needed to grow large antibodies.
Now, I don’t know this Dr. Muyldermans at all, but I like the sound of the other guy: Mr. Hamers. It sounds like a professional wrestler is heading up this project. This is kind of like a cage match between Mr. Hamers and The Scorpion.
I’d pay to see it.
There’s more:
Despite their promise, no one knows whether drugs using small antibodies will work in humans. The first drugs are still several years away from being approved for medical use. Ablynx is probably closest to putting a product on the market — a drug to prevent blood clots that tend to form in patients who have had stents implanted to open a blocked artery. If the drug passes all its clinical trials, it could be on the market in 2012 or 2013, said Ablynx Chief Executive Edwin Moses.
Ablynx — which calls its llama antibodies “nanobodies” — also has a partnership with Wyeth to develop a new arthritis drug that will use nanobodies to block TNF alpha, an immune-system protein that causes the inflammation characteristic of rheumatoid arthritis. Wyeth is hoping the Ablynx drug will help replace its blockbuster arthritis treatment, Enbrel, when the drug’s patent expires after 2011.
Did you catch that? The head of this company (Ablynx) is named Edwin Moses! That guy won all sorts of gold medals in the Olympics! He was champion at the hurdles for years!
That certainly would come in handy if he was chased by Mr. Hamers.
Apparently, some of these nanobodies are made by sharks and by chopped up human antibodies as well. None seem to be as good as llama antibodies, though. I wonder if they asked llamas if they were OK with the name nanobodies? What about calling them llamabodies? My guess is that since it is Edwin Moses’ company, the llamas would go along with the name.
The article concludes:
Ablynx is developing 24 different antibody-based drugs, all using llamas, Mr. Moses said. Ablynx uses llamas rather than camels because they are cheaper and easier to buy in Europe, where people tend to keep them as pets.
The key to this cutting-edge technology is the health of the llamas. Ablynx tries to keep their stress levels down so their immune systems produce the required antibodies.
“They are probably the best-kept llamas in the world,” said Eva-Lotta Allan, Ablynx’s chief business officer.
Who would want to use camels? Besides, camels are associated with cigarettes (because they are generally heavy smokers), and getting nanobodies from camels would probably make kids want to smoke.
I do like the idea of llamas who are not stressed out. I suppose they don’t let them watch news about the economy and instead play Kenny G and Michael Boulton for them a bunch (llamas like their hair). But they should not be around Mr. Hamer much, since he probably is pretty intimidating.
So what do you think? Should I press for royalties? I could offer them a Golden Llama Award in return. They are getting all the fame that comes from being posted on this blog, which should cause their stock to soar.
Wow. Llamas save lives. Life is good…really good.
I think I’ll put on some Kenny G and watch some professional wrestling to celebrate.
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