Potential cures for atherosclerosis

[Flagger]

Hi all,

I'm 54 years old and I had a triple bypass in 2002 , they became blocked up again 5 years ago so I had 4 stents in the one good artery to improve blood flow, I'll need another bypass in a few years, now got PAD in both legs ! I still work doing a heavy job in construction as it keeps my fitness levels up to a degree and couldn't sit at home.

My question is, we have probably all heard of a few things that seem to be on the horizon for a potential cure for blocked arteries but why do they all seem to come to a stop as regards to human availability ? They seem to have massive potential but are nowhere near being put to use in humans for unblocking arteries.

Its surprising when you think of the strain on the medical professions in dealing with heart disease worldwide using stent's, bypasses, statins, anticoagulants, etc,etc

Here's a few to google ;

Trodusquemine( a single dose in mice completely reversed atherosclerosis)

Cyclodextrin ( shown to dissolve plaques in mice )

Cysteamine ( shrinks plaques in mice )

There are many more .

I understand the need for rigorous testing but these products all seem to have stalled somewhat.

Is it because the big drug companies are fearful of losing money due to so many products for heart disease becoming obsolete ? eg statins, blood thinners, etc,etc

I wonder ?

Anyone have any thoughts on this

[Chappychap]

It's a common misunderstanding that drug companies make fortunes out of most popular heart medications.

The vast majority of the medication that we mainly take is really pretty old, well out of the twenty year patent period, and therefore manufactured down to an extremely competitive price via competitive tenders. No one's getting rich from statins, beta blockers, aspirin, ACE Inhibitors, anti-clot medication, etc.

Best of luck for your forthcoming treatment!

[mtse]

Look at how these medications work:

Trodusquemine helps with insulin resistance which is cause by being fat and easting too many carbs.

pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/co...

cyclodextrin helps with inflamation and reducing colestral

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?te...

Cysteamine helps with cholesterol removal specifically the LDL particles.

sciencedirect.com/science/a....

Basically, if you lose weight, reduce carbs (keto, carnivore diets), and exercise then over time you may be able to slow progression and even stop it getting worse. But whatever you are doing now in terms of eating and exercise isn't working for you so change that. It's probably impossible to remove the damage already done as that's like having a cut and you end up with scarring that is slightly thicker skin.

I went KETO and dropped 1.5 stones and pain in my feet and calves when walking has mostly gone.

[Steve_G]

Having been the recipient of a triple bypass 3+ years ago and as a pharmacologist with 35 years experience of developing drugs, I’m also interested in the questions you raise.

First, as Chappychap mentions, the majority of widely used drugs are generic versions which are low cost & low margin relative to the original, patented product so there really is an incentive for pharma to develop a novel treatment for which they could charge higher prices. The potential market is huge.

As Hidden highlights, the costs and time taken to conduct trials are significant. Given the prevalence of atherosclerosis, there would be no shortage of potential patients however, monitoring the clinical effect (the reduction in plaque) would be costly and would need to be long term. Development wouldn’t be cheap but the payback would be worthwhile.

The physiology of atherosclerosis reversal is complex and not simply the opposite of that which leads to it in the first place - genetically engineered mice are being used as models of human disease to help identify potential targets for drugs. Progress tends to be incremental and dependent on the accuracy with which the model parallels the human disease.

None of this helps any of us in the immediate or near future but I believe that in time there will be something. In the meantime, best of luck.

[Hidden]

Well said. There are a variety of medical conditions - including autoimmune arthritis and polycystic ovary syndrome in women - that we know can cause insulin resistance even if otherwise at a healthy weight and living a good lifestyle.