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Poison that could ease pain

CHRONIC pain affects between a third and a half of all British adults, and strong pain-killing medication such as opioids can have downsides.

But, even so, would you be happy to be injected with a drug derived from a bacterial toxin so deadly it’s been used as a bioweapon? Yet this could be on the cards, following recent studies showing that a toxin produced by bacteria that cause anthrax — a nasty disease — can target pain-sensing fibres, holding out hope for a new form of painkiller.

There is, of course, nothing new about developing drugs from poisonous bugs. Botulinum toxin (or

Botox) is the most poisonous substance known to man, yet people pay a lot to have it injected.

Then there is captopril, used for high blood pressure, which is derived from snake venom; and exenatide, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes, based on chemicals in the saliva of the Gila monster, a large lizard.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School have shown that injecting the anthrax-causing toxin into mice blocks pain signals — and because it specifically targets nerves that cause pain, they should result in fewer side-effects than common painkillers.

Ukraine On The Brink

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2022-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

2022-01-29T08:00:00.0000000Z

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