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To: dougjn who wrote (329)	11/14/1997 7:51:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	of 380

Doug, thanks for that! Yes, monoclonal antibodies in general and Coulter's in particular are hopeful lines of development. At present, they are still treating cancer in a stone age way. Hunt down a tree which produces an approximation of a suitable toxin, then poison yourself and hopefully the cancer cells are delicate enough that they die faster than you do. Which is not always the case. Most people get too much damage from the chemicals before the cancer is dead! To help out, blast yourself with nuclear fallout as the cancer cells are a bit more fussy about their lifestyle than normal cells. Bad luck about the leukaemia and other cancers that causes! I think the medical field is badly in need of the likes of Irwin Jacobs and co who apply intelligence rather than brute force. I've got a kilo or two of printouts, and lots of urls on the topic of NHL now. My brain is full of only recently familiar words and I'm waiting for them to form some sort of pattern in my head. At present, I have no idea which are the best molecular approaches to NHL nor which is the best company to find them. There seems to be a bit of competition. Understandably given the dollars that await a champion solution. How much would you pay for a Globalstar handset? How much for an NHL cure? There is a BIG difference. In talking to an endocrinologist friend, she says that there is a big surplus of researchers but a shortage of money. There are plenty of customers. The risk to investment money is pretty high. FDA requirements and delays seem costly though there have been improvements. There also seem to be plenty of ideas to investigate. So the main need seems to be us good old head-on-the-block courageous investors who pick Qualcomm and Globalstar out of the morass of prospects on offer several years ago. Of course we like to keep our head securely attached to our shoulders so are rather circumspect about the latest great idea. But a big winner or two or three there will be. Now, which are they? Thanks again for the info. Mqurice

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To: Pseudo Biologist who wrote (330)	11/14/1997 8:13:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	of 380

Pseudo Biologist, Geological time scale is about it too! Subject 12223 That is the Coulter SI discussion for other readers. Telomerase sounds like a real troublemaker. Pinning that one down seems like the king hit. The whole business seems dead easy. Nothing like those slippery cdma photons hiding out in a sea of quantum physics. Cancer seems as easy as clipping a marker onto the right cells, then sic-ing some T-cells onto them. Or getting telomerase to de-enzyme itself. While the mechanisms are small, they look like very much like simple meccano set processes. Or Lego for the less elderly! With enabling technology like AFFX's gene chip arrays, computers, magnetic resonance imaging, continuous blood monitoring, histological techniques and big floods of investment money looking for a better home than grossly overvalued Coke, Apple or McDonalds shares, progress should be quick. Doug, re the human genome project, yes, that along with multitudes of peripheral research projects on genetics and other diseases will be synergistic over the whole field of human biology. AIDS too has been a big boost for NHL since many AIDS sufferers get NHL. It's an ill wind that blows nobody good. AIDS has engendered masses of research on NHL related fields and which will spill over onto many other fields. Our crappy genetic structure seems to be the overall main problem. Roll on cloning, DNA design and build people and all that stuff. Having a child? Check out the menu of options. All guaranteed defect free - no cystic fibrosis, no Alzeihmers. Luddites and religious ideologues move out of the way. We're talking human freedom here! Mqurice

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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (333)	11/15/1997 1:49:00 AM
From: dougjn	of 380

Largely agree: <<Having a child? Check out the menu of options. All guaranteed defect free - no cystic fibrosis, no Alzeihmers. Luddites and religious ideologues move out of the way. We're talking human freedom here!>> Actually, it seems quite plain that we are headed for a major challenge to current democratic/egalitarian beliefs. If one can choose a child w/a 160+ IQ, and it is clear the child is in that category, was chosen to be, etc.... The genetic components of our physical AND mental/behavioral existence are going to become much more known, detectable, measurable, etc. That has some pretty signif. consequences, perhaps. Even for someone generally non-alarmist and bullish on the potential. Regards, Doug

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To: Pseudo Biologist who wrote (330)	11/26/1997 2:37:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	of 380

Max, thanks for all your contributions to Biotechs. I've read all of the IDEC discussion. Thanks too to Bennett! And Brad and others of course. Meanwhile, today Rituxan is approved. Nice timing. I might buy some. Not the shares, the product. Gee they sell it cheap. Only $10 000 or $12 000 or so I saw it is going to be. My brain is full of monoclonal antibodies, CHOP, statistics, B-cells, large diffuse cells, marrow, CAT scans, MRI, leucocytes, lymphocytes, P53 and p53. All that stuff. Cutting to the chase. I found one item of particular interest. In "Blood", 15 November edition, available on the Web, they reported a study on P53 mutation and p53 expression. If you have mutations of exons 5 through 8, then expression of p53 is a super bad prognosticator. Good if negative. It seems that the failed treatments aren't just bad luck but involve particular histologies which don't get destroyed by the chemotherapies. The classification systems seem to be archaic taxonomy descriptors rather than genetic based unambiguous facts. I guess with gene chip arrays, laser flow cell identification and the like, diagnostic precision will increase dramatically. The current method of staining and peering through a pair of binoculars seems hopeless. The p53 seems an especially important prognosticator for NHL. Rituxan should be used as a first line treatment in conjunction with chemotherapy in p53 expressors. [These are my ideas, so I'm looking for comment from people who actually know something about all this stuff. Don't forget, I'm a civil engineer, switched to the oil industry then read a lot about telecommunications and was never interested much in biology. Until now]. I gave a copy of the report to the doctors - all news to them and they are having a think about it. The ideal seems to be minimal chemotherapy, with Rituxan, followed by Y90 labelled monoclonal antibodies avoiding mouse immunity with primatized or humanized molecules. For those curious. Tarken is Stage 1A, diffuse, intermediate and large cell, cleaved, B-cell. No antigen testing done. No P53 analysis done. I'm pushing. Anyone know were p53 expression can be tested? Poisoning with CHOP starts next week. Thanks again Max, for all the information you've provided in the threads. Maurice

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To: Maurice Winn who wrote (335)	12/3/1997 3:59:00 PM
From: Pseudo Biologist	of 380

[Off-topic p53] Maurice, sorry for the delay, but I do have some information. First, I had downloaded the Blood paper a few weeks ago but still have not found the time the give it justice. From other reading on p53 I'd say your engineer's take on the issue is not far off the mark. Second, Affymetrix signed a deal with an outfit called Oncormed to do p53 testing for cancer diagnostic/prognostic purposes. I read somewhere that this is being marketed by Oncormed, but I have not tried to confirm this yet. Worth a look. Rituxan launched in Switzerland today. Good luck with CHOP and best wishes. PB

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To: Pseudo Biologist who wrote (337)	12/4/1997 7:34:00 PM
From: Maurice Winn	of 380

Thanks PB, I really appreciate the p53 advice. I'll track down Oncormed's CLIA-certified laboratory which should by now have the p53 clinical testing available. Don't worry about the off-topic. There is a Globalstar thread for Globalstar discussion. I'm going to use this as a biology base while I collect my thoughts and develop some understanding. Biology is sort of like CDMA anyway. I have a sneaky feeling they all melt into quantum mechanics and we will end up in the background 4deg K background microwave radiation pervading the universe. Meanwhile, the nuclear war approach to Tarken's NHL - blow up the whole lot and hope to get the bad bits - is underway and something better than cyclophosphamide and mates is obviously desirable, for comfort as well as success. The nuclear war approach to Saddam Hussein and NHL might be effective, but not good because the collateral damage is enormous. So much better to fly a cruise missile up the street to his and NHL's front door. Same for the stupid thugs running the ex KGB in Russia who have kidnapped a Qualcomm employee trying to provide them with a cdmaOne system in Rostov-on-Don. They think using a GPS system and inspecting a building, presumably as a prospective aerial location, are illegal activities. No wonder they don't have much in the way of progress there. I hope the USA sends a cruise missile through the front door of the building housing the KGB if they don't hand Richard Bliss back after satisfying themselves of their stupidity and his innocence. You can read about their actions here: biz.yahoo.com So far, there seem to be quite a few prospective biotech approaches to cancer which offer great prospects for amelioration, cure and profit. I like Telomerase inhibitors best. Monoclonal antibodies look pretty good too. The radioactive ones look a clumsy way of doing it. Sort of like tactical nuclear warheads. More precise, but still messy. Of course, prevention remains my favorite. Angiogenesis stoppers look great for rewinding cancer and leaving it vulnerable to cruise missile attack. There sure are many points of attack and many companies planning on succeeding. In fact, cancer cells are starting to look like endangered species. I have always assumed cancer to be a simple fact of human life. But it really is likely to be a has-been like Smallpox, bubonic plague and other tragedies of human life. At least for anyone with a half decent immune system. So I guess there will still be plenty of old people who will not be able to be saved. Of course, with telomerase becoming coded into our genes so that we don't run out of life as the telomeres shorten then maybe even old people will be young. Get younger as you age. Before I go too far down that trail, I'll need to develop a better concept of what "I am". A floating trail of consciousness, odd lot bunch of nostalgia, mere automaton of molecules with fake belief in self which passes instant by instant into the void? For now though, eating, hunting down some knowledge and looking for a way through the immediate dangers is enough to be doing. A kind of deterministic dinosaur. A Taniwha. Mqurice

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