Genetics and Health

November 10th, 2008

Gene therapy: $484 million world market by 2015

With still no gene therapy drug approved by the FDA, and only one controversial product in the market (Gendicine, approved only in China) since 2004, gene therapy is very much in its experimental stages.
And yet, the global market for gene therapy is already projected to reach $484 million by 2015. There is quite […]

By Grace Ibay -- 0 comments

October 9th, 2008

Premature ejaculation is in the genes, not just in the mind

A new study found that premature ejaculation is not purely psychological. Genetics has a lot to do with it.
Scientists from Utrecht University in the Netherlands studied 89 Dutch men who had "primary premature ejaculation", which means they suffered from it from their first sexual contact. They were compared with 92 men who had no […]

By Grace Ibay -- 0 comments

May 29th, 2008

Nanotechnology and gene p53

P52 gene, arrows show locations of common mutations 
(Image courtesy www.bioinf.org)
Following on from my last article on using gene therapy for increasing survival in head and neck cancer, Professor Jack Roth, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery and colleagues are now focusing on ways to deliver p53 and other tumor-suppressing genes […]

By Elaine -- 1 comment

May 29th, 2008

Gene therapy increases survival for head and neck cancer

Thank you to Jennifer Texada at MD Anderson for bringing this great cancer treatment discovery to my attention….
(Image courtesy Introgen Therapeutics)
A gene therapy invented at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is the first to succeed in a U.S. phase III clinical trial for cancer.  Introgen Therapeutics, Inc a spin out from MD […]

By Elaine -- 2 comments

May 18th, 2008

Erectile dysfunction may be helped by Maxi-K gene therapy

 
Maxi-K gene therapy may be a safe and effective future option for men whose erectile dysfunction (ED) is not treatable with oral therapy. This therapy is not yet available commercially but shows immense promise for the future.
Maxi-K therapy is a unique, locally administrated gene-transfer technology to treat erectile dysfunction (ED). The safety and the restorative […]

By Elaine -- 2 comments

April 3rd, 2006

Genetic Medicine for Inherited Illnesses

A new paper in Nature Reviews Genetics, entitled “Genetic Medicines: Treatment Strategies for Hereditary Disorders,” discusses potential genetic therapy for inherited diseases caused by a defect in one gene. (Not multifactorial diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, that are caused by a complex interaction of multiple genes and environmental factors.)
Genetic therapy techhniques discussed:

Gene transfer using […]

By Hsien Hsien Lei, PhD -- 2 comments