💊💡 Mad Science Age: E Dey Burst Our Brain Wey All Man Eye Dey Shine 👀⚗️
E no dey common for person mouth to run like water about new thing wey medicine go soon do, but as we dey so, di shine wey we dey see for di future of new tin-tin wey fit happen for medicine na like torchlight wey dem don put for sun. 😲🌞🔦
Jennifer Doudna wey be biochemist for University of California, Berkeley don talk say for her research lab wey she don run for almost 30 years sef, she never see di kind thing wey she dey see for di last five years. 🧪👩🔬📆🎉
Na Doudna wey win Nobel Prize na im carry Crispr come, dis na di thing wey be like Swiss Army knife for gene-editing, e be like “word processor” for human genome and she talk say e fit “rewrite di code of life”. 🔬🧬✍️👩💻🏆 Di work wey make Doudna collect Nobel Prize na since 2012 dem publish am, e open road of Crispr-powered therapies and cures wey fit reach anywhere. But as she look di breakthrough wey science dey make recently, she talk say last five years na even more wao! 🎇🧪🌍💫
Dis pandemic don tire plenty people for di way medicine matter be, and plenty people dey take di last few years na so so loss and failure. But this rough years — wey carry pass one million American deaths and like 20 million deaths for di world, and e make am be like say even di modern city of rich Western world come dey like di time wey we get plagues — e fit be the time wey medicine make serious better change. Besides Crispr and Covid vaccines, plenty possible way wey mRNA fit help for other disease dey; new way for immunotherapy and next-generation cancer treatment dey come; new world of weight-loss drugs dey show face; new understanding and way to develop drug with machine learning help dey; and vaccines wey go fit change game for some of di world biggest hard-to-cure infectious disease dey. 🦠💉🥼💊📈🤖
As we dey see am, na only sky be di limit for wetin we fit see for di next 30 years, and di way science dey go fast na like say e don put gear 5. 🏎️🚀💨🌌
E no easy to see di better side of bad thing, especially when di bad thing black reach like wetin di last three years be. But for di center of di American Covid matter, na di coronavirus vaccines dey, e be like better miracle wey biomedicine do: na dem make di drug-development time short reach like say dem cut am with cutlass, and di mRNA sequence for di first shot dem design am for one weekend, and di finish vaccines come out within months, e save like several million American lives and tens of millions for di world — na di number of people wey die because of di disease e even pass. 💉🧬⏳🌍🌈
Di miracle of di vaccines no be only about lives wey e save from Covid. As di first of their kind wey di Food and Drug Administration approve, dem carry long list of future mRNA applications follow body come: H.I.V., tuberculosis, Zika, respiratory syncytial virus (R.S.V.), different kind cancers wey dey wicked. And di innovation for vaccine no end for mRNA: Dem get “world-changing” vaccine for malaria wey dey kill 600,000 people for di world every year, e don dey use for Ghana and Nigeria, and early trials for next-generation dengue vaccines show say dem fit reduce symptomatic infection by 80 percent or more. 🦠💉🌍💖🎁
No be all di innovation wey dey come now or go soon come dey come from U.S. research or get di same development story. But plenty of dem story dey rhyme, often dem start since many years ago for di time of di Human Genome Project, wey dem finish for 2003, and di time wey National Institutes of Health’s budget nearly double, e help start wetin Donna Shalala, wey be President Bill Clinton’s secretary for health and human services, last year call “golden age of biomedical research.” 🌟💰📚🔬
After like two decades, e be like say na golden age for new treatments we dey. New trials of breast-cancer drugs don lead to survival rates wey before before dem no hear am, and new treatment for people wey dem do operation remove lung cancer fit reduce death by more than half. One new treatment for rectal cancer, e make every person for one small group of cases no get cancer again. 💊🎗️💪💃
Ozempic and Wegovy don already change di way obesity matter be for America — e make big change wey people don talk and talk so tey e come be like say dem forget say obesity na one of di big risk factors for preventable death for United States. The next-generation alternatives fit even work better, and e get signs say e get plenty other uses: At least for story wey people talk, for some patients the drugs dey help control behaviour wey dem no fit control for plenty hard-to-treat addictions. 🍔🏋️💊🔁
And even though na only four years ago dem first give person Crispr gene therapy for United States for sickle-cell disease, e don dey test am for congenital blindness, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and H.I.V. As we dey so, na only two applications for dis kind treatment don reach F.D.A., but if you join everything together, like 400 million people for world get one or more diseases wey na single-gene mutations cause, and na simple thing for Crispr to fix am. And when Doudna dey think about wetin dem fit do with am for 10 or 20 years, e sweet for ear: like say dem fit offer single-gene protection against high cholesterol and therefore coronary artery disease, or, for theory, put genetic protection against Alzheimer’s or dementia inside person. 👁️❤️🩸🦠🧬🚑
Na January, one paper wey people talk about well well for Nature suggest say di rate of scientific breakthroughs wey fit scatter everything dey reduce as time dey go — partly because academic pressures dey make researchers specialize narrow-narrow for di past and dem just dey touch touch for where science dey well understood.
But when e reach to get new vaccines and treatments, di opposite story na im dey true: whole branches of research, wey dem don dey groom for many years, don finally start to bear real fruit. This one mean say we dey climb up sharp sharp towards time wey life go long pass as e dey now and we go fit eliminate cancer completely? No. Di advances no too connect and dem scatter, and e get people wey believe say progress suppose dey move faster.
For di middle of pandemic, plenty people don call for make acceleration plenty, some dey talk say make dem reduce costs for drug development, wey don double every decade since 1970s, maybe by redesigning clinical trials or using wetin dem call human-challenge trials, or by making di drug-approval process faster. Graham, wey now be senior adviser for global health equity at the Morehouse School of Medicine, dey ask question about global distribution and access: Dem go fit carry dis new technologies reach where dem need am pass? “The biology and the science wey we need dey ground already,” he talk. “The question now for me na: We fit actually do am?” 💰💊📉🚀🌍
For 1987, one economist Robert Solow talk say you fit see the computer revolution everywhere except for productivity statistics — even though people feel say information technology don transform all kind work for America, di big change never really show for di country economy for any clear statistical way.
Until few years ago, you fit don talk the same thing about billions of dollars wey dem spend for research for potential H.I.V. vaccines or di decoding of the human genome, wey cause one kind biotech hype cycle wey start and stop before most Americans see any real gain from am. Sometimes na small time e dey take. 🧬💰🖥️📈🌍
NOW IN ENGLISH
💊💡 The Age of Extraordinary Science: It’s Bedazzling and Captivating Everyone’s Attention 👀⚗️
People rarely rave about forthcoming medical advancements, but as it stands, the excitement we perceive for the future of medical breakthroughs is akin to a torch in broad daylight. 😲🌞🔦
Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, has noted that in her research lab, which she has operated for almost three decades, she has not witnessed anything quite like the past five years. 🧪👩🔬📆🎉
Doudna, the Nobel Laureate who brought us Crispr, a Swiss Army knife of gene-editing resembling a “word processor” for the human genome, has stated it could “rewrite the code of life”. 🔬🧬✍️👩💻🏆 Doudna’s Nobel-prize winning work, published back in 2012, paved the way for Crispr-powered therapies and cures of incredible potential. However, looking at recent scientific breakthroughs, she asserts that the last five years have been even more astounding. 🎇🧪🌍💫
Many have grown weary of the medical landscape due to the pandemic, and the past few years have been fraught with loss and failure. Nevertheless, these challenging times —marked by over a million American deaths and approximately 20 million global fatalities, making modern, affluent Western societies appear reminiscent of plague-ridden times— could represent a period of significant medical transformation. Besides Crispr and Covid vaccines, there’s a multitude of potential mRNA applications for various diseases; upcoming immunotherapy methods and next-gen cancer treatments; a new realm of weight-loss drugs; novel drug development approaches aided by machine learning; and game-changing vaccines for some of the world’s most stubborn infectious diseases. 🦠💉🥼💊📈🤖
As we see it, the sky’s the limit for what we might witness in the next 30 years, and science is moving at warp speed. 🏎️🚀💨🌌
It’s difficult to see the silver lining in something so devastating, especially something as somber as the past three years. Yet, at the heart of the American Covid situation, the coronavirus vaccines stand out as a miracle of biomedicine: they’ve drastically shortened the drug-development timeline, the mRNA sequence for the first jab was designed over a single weekend, and the completed vaccines rolled out within months, saving several million American lives and tens of millions worldwide — a number surpassing the death toll caused by the disease. 💉🧬⏳🌍🌈
The miracle of the vaccines extends beyond saving lives from Covid. As the first of their kind approved by the Food and Drug Administration, they introduce a long list of potential future mRNA applications: H.I.V., tuberculosis, Zika, respiratory syncytial virus (R.S.V.), and various deadly forms of cancer. And the vaccine innovation doesn’t stop with mRNA: there’s a “world-changing” malaria vaccine that claims 600,000 lives annually worldwide, already in use in Ghana and Nigeria, and early trials of next-gen dengue vaccines suggest they could reduce symptomatic infection by 80% or more. 🦠💉🌍💖🎁
Not all emerging or imminent innovations stem from U.S. research or share the same development narratives. However, many of their stories rhyme, often originating many years back during the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003, and a time when the National Institutes of Health’s budget nearly doubled. This helped initiate what Donna Shalala, President Bill Clinton’s secretary for health and human services, recently dubbed the “golden age of biomedical research.” 🌟💰📚🔬
Two decades later, it seems we are in a golden age of new treatments. Recent trials of breast-cancer drugs have resulted in unprecedented survival rates, and new treatments for post-surgical lung cancer patients could halve the mortality rate. A new treatment for rectal cancer even resulted in complete remission in a small group of patients. 💊🎗️💪💃
Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have already revolutionized obesity treatment in America — an overlooked achievement considering obesity is a major risk factor for preventable death in the United States. The next-gen alternatives might perform even better, with indications they might have numerous other uses: anecdotally, for some patients, these drugs have helped control behaviors linked to a variety of challenging addictions. 🍔🏋️💊🔁
Although it’s only been four years since the first Crispr gene therapy was administered to a sickle-cell disease patient in the United States, it’s already being tested for congenital blindness, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and H.I.V. As it stands, only two applications of this type of treatment have reached the F.D.A., but in sum, about 400 million people worldwide suffer from one or more single-gene mutation diseases, which Crispr could theoretically fix. When Doudna thinks about what could be achieved with it in 10 or 20 years, it sounds amazing: potentially offering single-gene protection against high cholesterol and therefore coronary artery disease, or, theoretically, embedding genetic protection against Alzheimer’s or dementia within individuals. 👁️❤️🩸🦠🧬🚑
This past January, a widely-discussed paper in Nature suggested the rate of game-changing scientific breakthroughs has been declining over time — partly because academic pressures have led researchers to overly specialize and stick to well-trodden paths.
However, when it comes to developing new vaccines and treatments, the opposite appears true: entire branches of research, nurtured for years, have finally begun to bear fruit. Does this mean we’re rapidly heading towards a time when life spans will significantly extend and we could entirely eradicate cancer? Not exactly. The advancements are somewhat disparate and disjointed, and some people believe progress should be quicker.
Amid the pandemic, many have called for an acceleration, suggesting measures such as reducing drug development costs (which have doubled every decade since the 1970s), possibly by redesigning clinical trials or using so-called human-challenge trials, or by streamlining the drug-approval process. Graham, now a senior adviser for global health equity at the Morehouse School of Medicine, questions global distribution and access: Can these new technologies reach where they are most needed? “The biology and the science we need are in place,” he said. “The question for me now is: Can we actually do it?” 💰💊📉🚀🌍
In 1987, economist Robert Solow observed that you could see the computer revolution everywhere except in productivity statistics — despite the perception that information technology had transformed every industry in America, its major impact hadn’t yet clearly manifested in the country’s economy.
Until a few years ago, you might have said the same about the billions spent on research for potential H.I.V. vaccines or the decoding of the human genome, which triggered a biotech hype cycle that started and stalled before most Americans experienced any tangible benefits. Sometimes, it just takes time. 🧬💰🖥️📈🌍
