background history of Prialt

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http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=18485

New painkiller was born in Utah - Student discovered natural form in venomous

snails in 1979

30 Dec 2004

Undergrad discovered natural form in venomous snails in 1979 -

The natural form of Prialt - a new drug for severe pain approved this week by

the US Food and Drug Administration - was discovered at the University of Utah

in 1979 by an incoming freshman studying toxins produced by cone snails.

The student, J. McIntosh, worked in the laboratory of University of Utah

biologist Baldomero " Toto " Olivera, the summer before his freshman year as the

result of a scholarship interview.

Now, 25 years later, Olivera is a distinguished professor of biology who still

studies cone snails and how substances in their venom may be developed into

drugs, and McIntosh is a professor of psychiatry and research professor of

biology at the university.

McIntosh says his experience as an 18-year-old working in Olivera's laboratory

shows " the university provides a very unusual opportunity for undergraduate

students to participate in cutting-edge research that can make a real

difference. "

Olivera says McIntosh first isolated and characterized the painkiller in the

venom of the fish-hunting cone snail Conus magus, or magician's cone, which is

about 1.5 inches long and thus too small to kill people it stings, as do some

larger cone snails.

McIntosh discovered a component or " factor " in the venom affected the nervous

system. He purified it and determined its chemical structure. Later, University

of Utah biologist Doju Yoshikami determined the factor blocked the transmission

of nerve signals through certain connections or synapses between nerve cells.

Olivera and Yoshikami developed the factor - named omega-MVIIA, or omega

conotoxin M seven A - for use in basic research in neuroscience. " It blocks

communication between nerve cells, " allowing researchers to learn what nerve

circuits do normally by seeing what goes wrong when the connections are blocked,

Olivera says.

The university didn't patent omega-MVIIA because the substance " didn't have a

definitive therapeutic use " at the time, he adds.

" As with many basic science discoveries, the clinical importance of the

discovery wasn't appreciated at the time, " McIntosh says.

Olivera and Yoshikami collaborated in basic research on omega-MVIIA with

Miljanich, who worked at the University of Southern California and later moved

to Neurex Corp., where Miljanich explored the substance's therapeutic potential.

Neurex ultimately was acquired by Elan Corp., based in Dublin, Ireland. On Dec.

28, Elan got FDA approval to sell Prialt for chronic, intractable pain suffered

by people with cancer, AIDS, injury, failed back surgery or certain nervous

system disorders.

The drug is expected to be available in the United States in late January 2005.

It is injected into fluid surrounding the spinal cord by external or implanted

pumps.

" The commercial product, Prialt, is chemically identical to omega-MVIIA, except

that it is made synthetically instead of by snails, " Olivera says.