MIT Develops Virus Killing Superdrug

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BY DANNY MATTESON
ANCHOR MEGAN MURPHY

You're watching multisource health news analysis from Newsy.

Move over grandma, and take your home remedies with ya. There may be a new way to treat nearly any virus -- from the common cold to HIV. Time's Healthland explains.

"Scientists at MIT are developing a new drug that may fight viruses as effectively as antibiotics like penicillin dispatch bacteria. The broad-spectrum treatment is designed to trigger cell suicide in cells that have been invaded by a virus, thereby halting infection..."

Want more "amazing"? According to CNET the new drug, called DRACO, an acronym for Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase (Cass-pace) Oligomerizer-- whew-- does all of that without causing any harm to your healthy cells.

"DRACO attaches itself to virus-tainted cells...if [it] encounters a healthy cell along the way, it simply waves hello and leaves it alone."

So how powerful is this pathogen punishing pharmaceutical? According to The Huffington Post it's batting a thousand in research done so far.

"The drug ... has already been tested on 15 viruses... All of which, including the common cold, polio, H1N1, and a stomach virus, have been successfully killed by the treatment."(AOC)

But don't get too excited, there is of course a downside -- although it might be an afterthought for most. The San Francisco Gate had this to say....

"From a human perspective, one has to cheer. But from a natural perspective, one must observe that this amounts to outsmarting the planet's efforts to rein in our population to re-establish ecological and climactic stasis."

So when will be able to vanquish the viruses? According to Forbes, not any time soon.

"There's obviously a long way to go before DRACO goes mainstream. The next step for the team is to get the drug licensed for large animal and eventual human testing. If those tests are successful, though, then DRACO may well be as revolutionary for the treatment of viral infections as penicillin was for bacterial infections."

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