Bharat Rakshak

MSN Money.

Albany Molecular Expands India R&D Center

Associated Press
All Associated Press News

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Drug-discovery company Albany Molecular Research Inc. said Thursday it's building a 50,000 square-foot research and development center in India, an expansion of its Hyderabad Research Centre.

The company expects the new center to be finished late next year. The center will conduct contract projects in early stage drug discovery research. It will eventually add over 100 workers to the company's existing Hyderabad operations, which currently have 19 employees.

The company's Hyderabad Research Centre opened last year.

Making of India`s genome valley

[quote]Hyderabad is emerging as the country biotech hotspot, but all is not well as land prices shoot beyond the reach of SMEs.

According to official figures, the number of biotech companies with research and development facilities in the state stands at 33. According to A Ashok, director of biotechnology, government of Andhra Pradesh, inquiries are on the rise.

The state earmarked an area of 600 sq km in Hyderabad as the Genome Valley. The 200-acre ICICI Knowledge Park and the 400-acre Shapoorji Pallonji Biotech Park are part of this cluster.

Some of the entities that have set up shop here include Albany Molecular Research Inc, Mithros Chemicals, Sami Labs, GVK Biosciences and Biogenics.

However, as the names suggest, not all of these are pure-play biotech companies. Many border on bio-pharma. In fact, the official website of Genome Valley lists out Dr Reddy’s, Satyam and TCS also as some of the leading biotech players in the state.

the presence of institutes like Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) in the city did provide some benefits. Reddy had initially started his company as an R&D outfit at Osmania University in Hyderabad under the industry-university interactive programme and later at CCMB, until an independent R&D facility was built.

Apart from CCMB, the state is also home to institutes like National Institute of Nutrition, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics also.

Meanwhile, the state also has a biotech venture fund with a corpus of $30 million, set up as a joint venture between Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation Venture Capital Ltd (APIDC-VCL) and Dynam Venture East, USA, to fund start-up companies.

BioServe Biotechnologies and Silico Insights (now Nuvera Biosciences) are some of the companies where APIDC -VCL has invested $5,40,000 each. Both these companies are based in the US.

The government now plans to set up a township for the employees of Genome Valley. Talent however, remains a cause of concern for the industry, Shantha Biotech's Reddy says. “We need to spend 18-24 months to train the students.â€

This is scary if it happened...

Bayer, the German drug company, allegedly sold a batch of durgs that it knew was tainted with the AIDS in countries around the world. When the found out it had AIDS, they pulled it from the US market but sold in European and Asian markets.

That was 20 years ago, but is surfacing now. Imagaine what is happening today in India with the corrupt system...

Bayer sells drugs that contain AIDS
http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=17713

Indian biotech sector growing at 37%

Data protection or data exclusivity: Businessworld

Interest groups are into their last round of hectic lobbying before the Satwant Reddy panel set up by the government decides on 6 September whether India should adopt data protection or data exclusivity in its patents regime under TRIPS Article 39.3. Reddy is the secretary, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.

The battle lines are clearly drawn between the lobby of innovator companies, mostly multinationals, and that of generics companies, largely Indian. They range from the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA), Indian Drug Manufacturers Association (IDMA), and the Organisation of Pharmaceutical Producers of India (OPPI, representing the MNC lobby), US pharma lobby PhRMA, to individual companies, interest groups and NGOs.

“According to TRIPS, India needs to ensure protection of data during the life of the patent. There’s no clause which restricts the exclusivity of use of innovators data beyond the life of the patent,â€

Germany's Altana Pharma to open R&D unit in Mumbai

Ministry seeks nod to revamp biotech dept
[quote]In a move to expand the scope of the department of biotechnology, its parent ministry is moving the Union Cabinet seeking approval to recast it as the department of life sciences and biotechnology.

This will give the department policy-making powers over all forms of life sciences.

The ministry of science and technology is also looking to set up a life sciences and biotech commission, on the lines of the Space and Atomic Energy Commission. The draft has already been circulated among various ministries for their comments.

The draft note has cited the challenges of the global intellectual property regime, the need for seamless flow of knowledge and effective interaction between several stakeholders as reasons for the recast.

Long gestation periods and high risks in biotechnology will ensure that market forces will not nurture the sector, creating a need for strong public support, it adds.

The recast department would take over the budget of the biotechnology department, which is Rs 521 crore for this financial year. While a taskforce will be appointed to assess further financial requirements, it has been estimated that the fund requirement would be roughly Rs 1,500 crore for the annual plan 2007-08.

The commission, with 10 members, will have all government powers — administrative and financial — for carrying out the work of the revamped department. It will also act as the screening, advisory and approving agency for the government in import of new technologies for biological products or genetically manipulated materials.

Forging international collaborations and creating research support for small enterprises will be another of its principal objectives, states the draft. Depending on the date of the Cabinet approval, the ministry has estimated a timeline of three months for setting up the new structure.

According to industry estimates, the biotechnology sector in India is around $800 million strong and growing rapidly at 39 per cent. By 2010, it is expected to generate $5 billion in revenues.

“It is imperative to have in place such strategies and policies that bridge science, innovation and product development. The department of biotechnology in its present structure will not be able to meet all these challenges on an expanded scale,â€

x-post from M&A thread

FROM WSJ

India claims to be setting up Asia's largest stem cell research centre:

http://www.rxpgnews.com/india/Military- ... 9733.shtml

Global Biotech Area Surges Past 100 Million Hectares on 13 Percent Growth
[quote]

Delhi, India – Farmers continued rapid adoption of biotech crops around the globe in 2006 driving multiple adoption milestones for the technology-enhanced crops that produce greater yields of food, feed, fiber and fuel, according to an annual report released today by the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).

At the beginning of the second decade of biotech crop adoption, biotech crop area jumped 12 million hectares or 13 percent to reach 102 million hectares, breaking the 100 million- hectare mark for the first time and achieving the second highest growth in the past 5 years. Growth for the period 1996 to 2006 is equivalent to an unprecedented 60-fold increase, the highest adoption rate of any crop technology. Additionally, the number of farmers planting biotech crops surged past 10 million for the first time, to 10.3 million, from 8.5 million farmers in 2005.

Clive James, chairman and founder of ISAAA and author of the report, expects these adoption levels to continue accelerating throughout the second decade of commercialization. By 2015, ISAAA predicts more than 20 million farmers will plant 200 million hectares of biotech crops in about 40 countries.

“More than 90 percent or 9.3 million farmers growing biotech crops last year were small, resource-poor farmers from the developing world, allowing biotechnology to make a modest contribution to the alleviation of their poverty,â€

Here is an experimental blog for those who are interested in this sort of stuff. How the hell do you get ppl to read blogs besides forcing them to click on it like this?

You BETTER read it and comment about it.

Prescribed Malice

India has product patents now...Its ok to synthesize under patent drugs for Research purpose in US, not so in Europe (Bolar exemption). Europe is considering revising their Patent law in similar lines, however in return Brand companies are asking for 10 year data protection and every time they find a new use/Dosage form for the drug, they want the data protection to start once again for all indications.

Indian Patent Office is out dated, not capable of handling all the applications. Hell my 2000 patent application is yet to be examined, where as the one I applied in US in 2006 is already under examination.

If you wish we can debate in detail about status of Pharmaceutical Industry in India. Very good prospect for Generic industry (ANDA), Clinical Research, API synthesis (Not new drug), Not so good for drug discovery, Bio Tech in short to medium term.

Whats happening India? You can't even imagine. If its only contamination, you are lucky.

Almost 30-50% of drugs sold are FAKE, have no Active ingredients in them, made in Garages, packed in authentic blisters and sold. It is very advisable to have a friendly pharmacist. They know what is FAKE. Drug Inspectors are on the take..chain of corruption leads straight to Health Ministry.
Indian Pharma market is so fragmented, and regulatory requirements are so lax, main stream pharma companies today can not afford to manufacture majority of the products in their factories and license it out to small run of the mill companies (who get tax benefits - SSI). BE studies are required for only first five applicants (atleast till 2003 that was the case) and in many cases BE studies are done in-house and results are fabricated.

I can go on and on...make sure you have a friendly neighborhood pharmacist.

I dont think you read it properly (or if it was not clear that this is the introduction/history section I do apologise). I don't think there is anything to debate about the Indian Pharma...we all know they are good in generics the first section delineates WHY they are good at it.

The section on EMR post 95 and Patents Laws post 2005 is coming...but still perpheral to the topic: RVPji and Drug pricing. These are all interconnected issues that most folks dont understand.

The issue of fake drugs is also related to how the CDSO-FDA is set up in India...thats a separate policy issue.

1. Its not only Drug Price control which has screwed up the market, very lax quality standard allowed along with massive corruption which has completely screwed up Indian Domestic Pharma market.

Let me expand a bit. There is no earth shaking science involved in synthesizing a drug. Its very easy to by-pass the process patents. There is nothing to 'reverse engineer . We develop a new synthetic process.

Normally we start working on a molecule as soon as it clears Phase III studies and we get some indications thatEMEA or US FDA approval is likely. By this time most of the patents are published and we know what to by pass, and we do it routinely. Key is doing it Economically. That takes time and effort. Once we do it, then formulation development work follows, then BE studies. Once we get the FDA approval we make some money for Initial 1 year or so. Now Indian FDA doesn't require all manufacturers to do BE studies, only the first five have to do it. So after a year or so many start synthesizing the molecule, they don't have to do BE, FDA inspectors are corrupt, so they get away with all cGMP violation...result ..big companies can no longer afford to manufacture it in their own plant (Over head).

As for the Controlled released dosage forms, well many of them which are being sold in India are not so controlled.. , mind you not due to lack of technical expertise, but due to economics. Same companies sell perfectly Bio-equivalent CR dosage forms in US and Europe, that after winning had fought patent victories.

Message is, We have the technical expertise (Hell 30% of Scientists in US Pharma Industry is Indian and another 30% is Chinese..we joke about renaming AAPS to INDO-CHINESE american association of Pharmaceutical scientists ), we have the infrastructure, but under current conditions. Indian domestic market can not support quality medicine.

Let me say this once again....if you dont understand the difference (and hence the implications of) CDSO and State FDA you really should read up on it first (that is IF you DIDNT already understand their difference by reading the intro in the blog).

I am really not interested in the issue of fake rx coz they are purely under the purview of the state FDA (again you need to understand the difference) each state has its one wonderful application/non application thereof. The issue of price control is more of a federal issue and affects ANYTHING that is sold (be it real or fake) via a retail or hospital pharmacy.

After working for 12 years in Indian Pharma R&D, yes I DO know what is the difference between State FDA and CDSCO (Always double check those abbreviations), Afterall I had to make presentations to expert panel for obtaining the marketing approval.

I raised issue of FAKE drugs in response to Sudhir's post, not as a comment on your blog.

But you are right about Chemical ministry controlling the price of essential drugs and Ministry of health and Family welfare setting the policy on pharmaceuticals. [/code]

Umm so you think I criticize BRF newbies for a living and don't have any other occupation. The very fact that you mentioned AAPS pretty much tells me your profile*. Fortunately those of us who do this sort of stuff for a living usually goto ISPOR/IHEA or if you are US Centric: Academy Health. But none of them economist types really understand the situation in India, you just have a frame of reference to international pricing.

Till now the only "expert" thing that I've gleaned from you is that I forget the C in CDSCO (even though I got its name right)....besides your validation that I am right even though you are Pharma R&D and I actually do this sort of stuff for a living.



Do you have an open source reference for that? Just like BRF I like to make sure there are ample references to what I put on PrescribedMalice....see how I let my jingo side come through with the Mig-21 & 29 spares reference?

But given that you seem to have a lot to say I would be delighted if you could post this as a comment on the blog itself.

____________________________________
* Umm I am married to one....nearly all our Pharma friends make that annual pilgrimage.....thank god for IT-Vity one!

Sigh..I don't want to get in to my profile/your profile, my 'expertise' arguements. (I did not make any claims to be an expert, only that I have worked in the industry). Just for information, my specialization is in Formulation Development (mainly Modified release dosage forms including multiparticulates).



While there are no open source literature I am aware of, simple comparison of Dosage forms to RLD should give you an indication. For example look up on Venlafaxine ER dosage forms available in India, compare it with Effexor XR, you will understand what I am talking about.


Will definitely do (just give me some time). You may want to explore practice of 'Loan Licensing' and 'Third Party Manufacturing'.

India is ‘leading in biotech sector’
[quote]Published: Sunday, 18 February, 2007, 08:47 AM Doha Time

WASHINGTON: India is emerging as a key biotech leader in Asia, surpassing China for the first time in areas planted with biotech seed, according to a leading agricultural researcher.
Citing the India example, Clive James, chairman of the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA), said the next decade of research in crops improved by biotechnology will include a major role for the rapidly increasing number of projects in Asia.
ISAAA is a non-profit international network based at Cornell University in New York with centres in the Philippines and Kenya.
Countries in Asia increasingly are investing in agricultural biotechnology research aimed at helping them meet their growing needs for food, feed, fibre and fuel, James was cited as saying by the official state department website.
In 2006, India tripled from the previous year the area it planted in biotech cotton, its first commercialised biotech crop. India now has a total of 3.8mn biotech hectares while China has 3.5mn such hectares.
India is projected to invest $80mn in 2007 to develop a national network of research laboratories.
Already, with support from the US Agency of International Development and Cornell University, India has been conducting research on major food crops it consumes - eggplant that is resistant to shoot borers, potato resistant to blight, and drought and salt-tolerant rice, James said.
Biotech crops, also known as genetically modified crops, increasingly are being grown in and approved for import by Asian countries, he said.
The researcher, recently back from visiting several countries in Asia, said acceptance is strong among farmers in countries like India, China, Pakistan, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea and the Philippines where traditional crops often are destroyed by insects or harsh environmental conditions.
These farmers stand to benefit financially from increased harvests due to genetic improvements that make certain crops resistant to insects and because such crops need fewer applications of insecticides, James said.
“The development of biotechnology will be a major development for all of agricultureâ€

India now offering stem cell treatment for cardiac patients?

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/00 ... 222031.htm

What, are we ahead of the world in stem cell tech, or just in quacks offering scams?

Hi SanjayM,
The idea of using mesenchymal stem cells is the major research area in regenerative medicine. Unfortunately this has been hijacked by some unethical crooks. There is no randomised data to compare how they work against standard treatment. Forget about randomised data, the identification, isolation, in-vitro expansion of these stem cells is in its infant stage. Without these offering these stem cell treatment!! for Rs25,000 is plain con-job. I sincerely hope the government brings in some legislation or atleast ask those good for nothing medical councils to probe these practices.
Regards
Subash

True, we may be behind -- or ahead, if quackery is a skill -- but here's an interesting trial underway:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6226054.stm

Hi SanjayM
Yes there are 2 other trials being done. I forget where they are. The pilot work for these were done in 2001/2002. The basic reason why it's a con job is because these mesenchymal stem cells form about 0.1% of bone marrow cells. To isolate them you need expensive flow-cytometers & other instruments. If you give the unrefined bone marrow without the isolation of these stem cells the volume to attain decent mesenchymal stem cell dose is huge particularly for intra-cardiac or through the coronary arteries. On the other hand if you give it through a vein whether these cells home to the heart is another area of research. The other huge area of research is stem cell trafficking. In India we have not much experience of even using peripheral blood stem cell transplant be it autologous(one's own blood cell) or allogenic (other's). To suddenly jump to mesenchymal stem cell transplant is just bull-shit. To offer it for Rs25,000 is definetely a con job IMHO.
Regards
Subash

Well, there's been the recent discovery of some simple molecule drug that has the ability to boost the stem cell levels in the bloodstream:

link

Something like this might be useful for healing, whether for heart patients or any type of healing.

Good find SanjayM. There are few stimulating factors commercially available for increasing production of blood cells from the haemopoietic stem cells. But this new (not so new molecule) finding of Prostaglandin E2 to increase stem cell population particularly of Haemopoietic(blood) stem cells has wide ranging clinical applications. I am sure in a few years time a good stimulating factor for Mesenchymal stem cells (the master cell that can produce variety of tissues like heart muscle, neural cells, cartilage, bone, etc.) either for in-vitro(outside body) or in-vivo(inside body) expansion would be available. In regenerative medicine we are living in exciting time.
Regards
Subash

csubash, what do you think of this?

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10 ... .2006.0526



As we know, oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is a prime cause of aging in animals and human beings. Due to Mother Nature's shortsightedness, vital genes are located inside the mitochondria, which are the fuel-burning powerplants of our cells. Because these fragile genes are exposed to the oxidative activity occurring within the mitochondrial compartment, they suffer damage over time. While there are repair mechanisms available to try and keep those genes in good health, they are not enough to offset the mutation/damage which gradually accumulates. The resulting loss in mitochondrial function is a prime cause of age-related decline in the body's tissues.

And yet recent discoveries like the one above may offer a means to combat and possibly even reverse this damage to mtDNA, restoring the potency of the fuel-burning respiratory biochemical pathway.

I think that Indian biotech/pharma companies should get into anti-aging research, as the wealthy aging baby boomer demographic in the West approaches retirement age. They are the prime customers for medical services for the elderly, and anti-aging therapies would definitely be an appealing offering to their market, which they would pay handsomely for.

SanjayM
Sorry for the late reply. I don't know much about mitochondrial DNA. mtDNA are mostly from maternal side. The charecterstic disease of their mutations being in the eye called retinitis pigmentosa, leber's optic atrophy. The inheritance pattern is a lot different from other genetic(nuclear DNA) disorders. Regarding their spontaneous mutation later in life from free oxygen radicals, the jury is still out. That hasn't prevented the lotions & potions companies from selling anti-oxidant creams, tablets, etc. Regarding repair of those genes, it may be quiet a few years/decade away(I may be wrong). But beyond that I haven't got much experience with them.
Regards
Subash

[quote="Sanjay M"]csubash, what do you think of this?

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10 ... .2006.0526

[

csubhash - take a look at this:

http://www.csiro.au/multimedia/DNAdoctor.html

CSIRO is researching the characterization of DNA damage through simple cytological analysis of leukocytes. Symptoms of damage would be things like micronuclei, for example.

The reporter for that article offered himself as a test subject; his blood was analysed, then they had him take 500 ug folic acid and 50 ug B12 per day. After 3 months, his blood was re-analysed and it showed 45% less (of some kind of) damage.

Just imagine - genomic health is becoming a business.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007 ... 967338.htm

"Adelaide surgeon and clinic director, Dr Tim Edwards, says it will significantly increase the potential for people to reach their 100th birthday."

"The health analysis will help people make lifestyle and medical decisions that promote wellbeing and longevity."

csubash:

Also check out companies like Telomolecular, who have licensed drugs like Mitofusin1, which can repair damaged mtDNA:

http://www.telomolecular.com/mitofusin1.asp

I think mtDNA is increasingly being shown to be the weak achilles heel in cells which contributes heavily to the human aging process.

SanjayM
I had a read through both the genomic health clinic & mitofusin1 sites.
Regarding genomic damage assesment, I am not sure what the test he proposes called cytokenesis block micronuclei(CBMN) assay involves. Whether it involves any DNA stress drugs like Mitomycin & estimating how vulnerable the DNA are, I am not sure. But there is a condition called Myelodysplasia which is basically ineffective blood cell formation in the bone marrow. The blood cells in that condition show nuclear fragmentation, internuclear bridging, micronuclei, etc. In another condition called megaloblastic anaemia which is basically lack of vitamins like B12 & folic acid the blood cells show features similar to myelodysplasia. I don't know whether his use of B12 & Folic acid for treating this genomic damage stems from this. The use of B12 & folate supplements is increasing day by day from conditions ranging from heart attack(B12 & folate are used to treat increased homocysteine levels which supposedly leads to heart attack), birth defects, ageing, etc. In fact there is a widespread support for fortification of cereals, milk, etc with folic acid in US(it may have been already implemented).
Regarding Mitofusin1 I don't know whether this product is a recombinant one(but there are very few primers for mtDNA) or a human extract or from a different species which has homology to human mitofusin1 or whether they transfect cells. Regarding slowing of ageing or treating age related diseases there are other companies which are targeting whats called telomeric extension of nuclear DNA. Telomeres are repeat sequences at end of chromosomes which are sometimes lost in DNA duplication(mitosis).
Regards
Subash

I don't quite understand - Folic acid helps in telomerase length retention?? Can you please help me with a reference for that.

Nah, folic acid might help in methionine retention, and methionine is a primer for protein synthesis, since it's a start codon.

Telomerase is what would be useful for telomere length extension. But naturally it's associated with cancer, so other anti-cancer agents would simultaneously be necessary in order to use it safely. There's a growing field of study around this, these days.

ksmahesh
As SanjayM said folate is needed for regeneration of methionine from homocysteine(homocystenemia causes thrombosis) for which vitamin B12 is needed as cofactor. Methionine is needed for methylation of 5' region of DNA which initiates protein synthesis. Folate is also needed for generating Thymidylate which is needed for DNA synthesis. Folate has no direct role in telomer extension/retention.
SanjayM
This use of telomerase's for age-related diseases is like chasing one's own tail. As you mentioned it prevents the cells from natural death & makes them prone for cancer.
Regards
Subash

Aah The great telomerase story
Did you know telomerase is very similar to reverse transcriptase?
Check out this
link. Telomerase for your face.

By the way, the oxidative damage theory is well just a theory. It has not been conclusively proved to be the most important factor. There are studies which say the aging is due to faulty replication in both mitochondria and nucleus, mainly mitochondria, and that mitochondrial DNA having defects gets propagated faster than the one which is not. The oxidative damage happens as an effect of this faulty replication and not as consequence.

There are other theories too. But oxidative damage theory is also a theory which is more pharmaceutically viable, so is propagated as a fact.

By the way c subhash your name rings a bell. Did you work on plant viruses?

Oh my god
I didn't realise this business of anti-aging cream has gone this far. regarding the daily mail article the company website for peau magnifique states it has telomerase, epidermal growth factor, fibroblast growth factor. Seems a good recipe for skin cancer rather than anti-aging. It costs a cool $1500 for 1 week treatment. The company advices to use another serum!! which has keratinocyte stimulating factor costing $600 an ounce. The other products like amatokin & strivectin apparently use an oligopeptide(smaller protein molecules) to stimulate & recruit skin stem cells. They are apparently from placental tissue. Reminds me of the cantonese delicacy!!! of placental soup for fertility boost, the extract from similar dubious source near St.Petersberg.
I still can't understand how a topical cream of telomerase find its way to inside of a cell. Reading the the ingredients in these creams itself is revolting, I don't know how people put them on their face spending $$$$$.




Hi K Mehta
No I haven't worked on plant viruses. I am a clinician

Regards
Subash

K Mehta,

One reinforces the other. The oxidative damage creates the defects in the mitochondrial DNA, and the defective mitochondria are able to out-propagate the healthy ones. But certainly the oxidative damage helps to kick things off.

One of the reasons exercise helps keep you healthier and the fat off, is that it boosts the rate of mitochondrial replication and turnover. So your overall mitochondrial health is greater, and thus you're better able to keep the fat off, as well as being healthier overall.

There were recent studies with the drug mitoquinone (MitoQ) using large lipophilic cations bound to anti-oxidants which naturally attract to defective mitochondria having low charge-gradient. They were able to achieve an amazingly high rate of drug delivery using this method on patients suffering from Progeria (genetic disease where children are born with defective mitochondria, looking like old people, and dying very young from premature aging)

Similarly, you could one day imagine that toxins could likewise be targetted in this way, to destroy defective mitochondria, or trigger apoptosis in cells having too many defective mitochondria. It's just a question of engineering, and a matter of time.

Hi Sanjay M
Agree that drug delivery is an exciting area for pharma companies/researchers. There are drugs which can deliver radiotherapy to just the cancerous cells but not the normal cells. Gamma or beta radiation emitters like yttrium90 or Iodine 131 combined to monoclonal antibodies targetting specific cell markers like CD20(lymphoma cells express this protein, but normal B lymphocytes also express this antigen as well). Targetted drug delivery, monoclonal antibodies, nanotechnology, signal transduction pathway inhibitors are the way forward for future treatment particularly for cancers.
Regards
Subash


[quote="Sanjay M"][quote="K Mehta"]

sanjay
I have heard the opposite,
The oxidative damage comes in much later, when a threshold of DNA damage has already exceeded(all mitochondrial genomes together cannot produce enough redox regulator enzymes). The other thing is I have read papers which say that mito DNA which is has deletion, out propagates normal mito DNA. But not about mitochondrias with oxidative damage. The link you gave earlier is now giving a therapy which can cure the problem of deleted mt DNA but this cure has come after a long long time and till then the pharma companies propagated oxidative damage as the major aging factor to keep their money mills running. The problem is that though the antioxidants work, they work at a later stage in aging, where already aging has started. So all it can do is delay it, but not stop it. I like that link you sent. This would indeed see a lot of new things happening in aging.
But one mito with 50-100 genomes is something which still amazes me.