Comments on: “Old School” Biochemistry Still There http://futilecycle.com/2007/05/31/old-school-biochemistry-still-there A Wandering Through Life and Science Fri, 29 Aug 2008 03:05:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Eric http://futilecycle.com/2007/05/31/old-school-biochemistry-still-there#comment-168 Eric Fri, 01 Jun 2007 05:14:39 +0000 http://futilecycle.com/2007/05/31/old-school-biochemistry-still-there#comment-168 I'm not surprised that the treatments haven't had major improvements. Gross genetic defects tend to be pretty rare, I think, since they can be quite lethal, as opposed to more subtle things like "diabetes" or "cardiovascular health" or "cancer." Plus, these are pretty incredible drugs, so making something like a specific inhibitor doesn't seem like it would do all that much more for the effort and cost. I mean, can you really beat sodium benzoate and sodium phenylacetate in terms of effectiveness and cost? I’m not surprised that the treatments haven’t had major improvements. Gross genetic defects tend to be pretty rare, I think, since they can be quite lethal, as opposed to more subtle things like “diabetes” or “cardiovascular health” or “cancer.” Plus, these are pretty incredible drugs, so making something like a specific inhibitor doesn’t seem like it would do all that much more for the effort and cost. I mean, can you really beat sodium benzoate and sodium phenylacetate in terms of effectiveness and cost?

]]> By: Apollo http://futilecycle.com/2007/05/31/old-school-biochemistry-still-there#comment-163 Apollo Thu, 31 May 2007 14:43:24 +0000 http://futilecycle.com/2007/05/31/old-school-biochemistry-still-there#comment-163 Haha - I learned about these metabolic pathways, diseases, and treatments about two months ago. If I'm not mistaken, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and bile acid sequestrants are best used in tandem. As for sodium benzoate and sodium phenylacetate, it's amazing that those (quite effective) treatments have been around for so long - and that there haven't been any major improvements upon them. I suppose that people with "inborn errors of metabolism" are still a relatively small population compared to those with infectious and non-genetic, chronic diseases. It is kind of a shame that Harvard doesn't have a decent undergraduate biochemistry course. Much of the material was new for me in medical school, though some of the material was covered in BS52, BS54, and a little bit from Chem27. Haha - I learned about these metabolic pathways, diseases, and treatments about two months ago. If I’m not mistaken, HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors and bile acid sequestrants are best used in tandem.

As for sodium benzoate and sodium phenylacetate, it’s amazing that those (quite effective) treatments have been around for so long - and that there haven’t been any major improvements upon them. I suppose that people with “inborn errors of metabolism” are still a relatively small population compared to those with infectious and non-genetic, chronic diseases.

It is kind of a shame that Harvard doesn’t have a decent undergraduate biochemistry course. Much of the material was new for me in medical school, though some of the material was covered in BS52, BS54, and a little bit from Chem27.

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