We’ve learned of some amazing ideas and inventions from Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. Here’s one that sounds like it has a big promise to backup . . . A doctor named Todd Rider has invented DRACO, which stands for Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers.
This is beyond our biological knowledge, but from the IndieGoGo page we have learned that these are potentially a cure for viruses. These are broad-spectrum antiviral candidates that Dr. Rider developed that have proved safe and effective in treating ALL 18 viruses they’ve been tested on. The anti-viral method works by targeting the long, double-stranded RNA that virtually all viruses make. DRACO looks for this long, double-stranded RNA and binds with it to activate the “suicide switch” that kills it before the virus can replicate itself and spread.
These 18 viruses include two different types of H1N1 influenza (flu), four types of rhinovirus (the common cold), two adenoviruses, dengue hemorrhagic fever, and others have been successfully treated in humans and animal cells and in mice using DRACOs. Check out the published results in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS ONE.
The fundraising campaign is to take the research to the next level and test the virus against the herpes virus family, which includes the sexually transmitted herpes viruses but also other viruses in that family such as chickenpox and shingles (Varicella Zoster Virus), Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), and Kaposi’s Sarcoma Herpesvirus (KSHV). With further testing, this technique promises to work against other viruses like HIV.
We can’t help but get swept up in what a huge breakthrough eliminating these viruses would be for global health. Your donation can help them rent lab space in sophisticated facilities and purchase more advanced equipment. They want this funding request “to go viral.”
