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FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

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Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#211

Post by imtringued »

ben_w wrote: post #118
esturk wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a crass statement. What if you're the patient? Would you spend 2 million to live 30-40 more years? It's so easy to step back and weight the lives of other as if you're making the decision for others.

Crass, sure. Not sure it's really easier though, economics and emotional affect are often at odds. Ask people if a hospital administrator should spend 100k on either a single liver transplant for an 11 year old girl, or spread over 100 less expensive life saving interventions for 50 year olds, most people will say save the girl and demand the administrator be fired for even needing to think about it . (Half remembere…

Why? The way health insurance works, all of those are profitable treatments. There is no "choose one or the other". Sick children/adults becoming healthy adults that can pay for health insurance is not a moral dilemma.

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#212

Post by huppeldepup »

foco_tubi wrote: post #134
evrimoztamur wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might enjoy Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future if that idea is appealing to you. Very curious execution of a disease-free bio-tech (organ-ic-tech?) future.

I just wanna be able to digest plastic

why digest plastic if you can photosynthesise

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#213

Post by imtringued »

arcanemachiner wrote: post #81
esturk wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a crass statement. What if you're the patient? Would you spend 2 million to live 30-40 more years? It's so easy to step back and weight the lives of other as if you're making the decision for others.

The median income in America is a little under $40000 per person[1], so that $2.2 million pretty much represents the entire financial income of the average American over a working lifetime (55-60 years). So in essence, you'd be trading the equivalent of one person's entire lifetime of productivity in exchange for the first generation of a radical new medicine whose outcome is unknowable. I don't think it's crass to e…

I see you are a fan of the MAiD program in Canada.

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#214

Post by __loam »

MiddleEndian wrote: post #13

Lots of AI content recently (and I am working on AI-adjacent stuff myself lol), but I am most excited for upcoming medical changes. Cure every disease, then let people have designer bodies if they like.

I think we're pretty far away from designer bodies. We might solve a lot of cancer in our lifetimes though.

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#215

Post by __loam »

interroboink wrote: post #125
vidarh wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Without access to modern hospital treatments it is fairly normal to die very young from sickle cell disease - it causes 100k+ deaths a year. An in-law of an ex has it, and regularly spends days in hospital during crises. Without access to a high quality hospital he'd have been dead a long time ago. The average life expectancy for someone with sickle-cell disease in developed countries is 40-60 years, and serious cris…

I think this is right, but just to spell out the recessive gene implications for readers, here's the Punnnett square[1] : R | r +----+----+ R | RR | Rr | --+---------+ r | Rr | rr | +---------+ The people with sickle cell disease are "rr" — that's 1/4 the population. The people who have some malaria resistance are all of the ones with "r". In particular, the "Rr" folks have the resistance, but not the anemia. So basi…

Worth noting punnet squares are kind of bunk: https://youtu.be/zpIqQ0pGs1E?si=SDRQP-PW2u_6Jq3d

Although sickle cell does seem to be one of the rare cases where they work out.

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#216

Post by ben_w »

imtringued wrote: post #211
ben_w wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crass, sure. Not sure it's really easier though, economics and emotional affect are often at odds. Ask people if a hospital administrator should spend 100k on either a single liver transplant for an 11 year old girl, or spread over 100 less expensive life saving interventions for 50 year olds, most people will say save the girl and demand the administrator be fired for even needing to think about it . (Half remembere…

Why? The way health insurance works, all of those are profitable treatments. There is no "choose one or the other". Sick children/adults becoming healthy adults that can pay for health insurance is not a moral dilemma.

What are you asking "why" about, exactly?

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#217

Post by selcuka »

MiddleEndian wrote: post #180
foco_tubi wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wanna be able to digest plastic

Speaking of digesting random things, I found myself bored in the shoe section of some store (I wanna say Nordstroms), and I was curious if I could eat the leather shoes. Beef is beef, right? Apparently you cannot digest leather due to the chemicals involved in the curing process.

> I was curious if I could eat the leather shoes. Beef is beef, right?

This was a recurring theme in Lucky Luke [1]. The titular hero cooks and eats his boots when he faces starvation, usually when he gets lost in the desert.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Luke

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#218

Post by wizzwizz4 »

__loam wrote: post #215
interroboink wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is right, but just to spell out the recessive gene implications for readers, here's the Punnnett square[1] : R | r +----+----+ R | RR | Rr | --+---------+ r | Rr | rr | +---------+ The people with sickle cell disease are "rr" — that's 1/4 the population. The people who have some malaria resistance are all of the ones with "r". In particular, the "Rr" folks have the resistance, but not the anemia. So basi…

Worth noting punnet squares are kind of bunk: https://youtu.be/zpIqQ0pGs1E?si=SDRQP-PW2u_6Jq3d Although sickle cell does seem to be one of the rare cases where they work out.

Punnet squares are as "bunk" as Ohm's Law.

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#219

Post by 2devnull »

spondylosaurus wrote: post #96
SoftTalker wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah potatoes will fill your stomach and better than starving but they aren't really healthy food. Eat them in moderation, and prefer sweet potatoes/yams.

On the contrary, potatoes are full of good stuff: https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speak... Just make sure to go easy on the toppings!

That says,

“ true that potatoes are high in starch or carbohydrates, the nutrients that cause spikes in blood sugar. But pairing them with foods high in protein, fiber and unsaturated fats can slow digestion and lead to a steadier release of glucose into the bloodstream.”

Which suggests you should add toppings or else potatoes are not very healthy if eaten on their own. (I think they’re fairly high up on the glycemic index).

Re: FDA approves a CRISPR-based medicine for treatment of sickle cell disease

#220

Post by joshuamcginnis »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #204
joshuamcginnis wrote: post #46

Here's basically how the process works: * Harvest stem cells from the patient. * Prepare a DNA plasmid with the Cas9 gene, guide RNA for the desired genetic modification, and an antibiotic resistance gene. * Electroporate the plasmid into the harvested stem cells. Grow the electroporated stem cells in antibiotic-containing nutrient media. Only cells with the plasmid (and thus antibiotic resistance) survive. * Expand…

Do you know why they're having the marrow synthesise fetal hemoglobin versus hemoglobin A(2)? (Is it simply because HbF is one molecule while HbA and HbA2 are two?)

Fetal hemoglobin has a lot of biochemical advantages for fighting sickle-cell disease on its own so this is leveraged in the CRISPR solution - e.g. create more of the cells that inhibit the disease in the first place.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetal_hemoglobin#Treatment_of_...

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