Saturday, January 5, 2008

Where FTY720 (Fingolimod) comes from

I knew from prior research that FTY720 was derived from a fungus that has been used for centuries in ancient Chinese medicine, but today I actually stumbled across an image of the fungus. Thought it would pique your curiosity to share it with you:



It's not much to look at and truth be told, I am so glad they figured out how to encapsulate the good stuff and put it in tiny pill form. I would hate to try to gag one of those down every morning with my decaf. Ewww. Actually, to be more accurate, they figured out how to synthetically reproduce it, so I don't think there's a laboratory growing fungus somewhere to keep all us trial patients supplied with pills.

An interesting read is found on the page I got the image from:

http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/jun2006.html

4 comments:

  1. This was very interesting. Thanks for the link.

    Maggie

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  2. i am approaching my 1 year anniversary 01/31/08 of fty720 only. I am in a 24 month double blind study of placebo, .5 or 1.25 dose. I am on fty720 due to the drop in heart rate at initial dose and the change in blood test results. I have enjoyed reading your post and look forward to your updates. Thanks...Marie

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  3. i am in the study too, but i think my pills are the placebo since i experienced side effects after my weekly shots. i've been diagnosed with MS in march 2007 and i started with this study on 16 august 2007 ... well, i am actually finishing month no five today, whoot!

    i am very excited about your experiences with fty720, can't wait to read more!

    ReplyDelete
  4. i am in the study too, in Italy, since march 2007
    I'm sick since 2001
    I think my pills are fty!
    Now, I don't fell the disease

    ReplyDelete

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