A phase II clinical trial was completed in 2012, which showed that a cocktail of drugs that included lonafarnib and two other drugs met clinical efficacy endpoints that improved the height and diminished the rigidity of the bones of progeria patients. References
External links
"Lonafarnib". Drug Information Portal. U.S. National Library of Medicine. "Experimental Drug Is First To Help Kids With Premature-Aging Disease", NPR, September 24, 2012
Clinical trial number NCT00425607 for "Phase II Trial of Lonafarnib (a Farnesyltransferase Inhibitor) for Progeria" at ClinicalTrials.gov
Clinical trial number NCT00916747 for "Study of Zoledronic Acid, Pravastatin, and Lonafarnib for Patients With Progeria" at ClinicalTrials.gov
Possible animal effects
On June 22, 2006, a California brown pelican, possibly under the influence of domoic acid, flew through the windshield of a car on the Pacific Coast Highway. The phycotoxin is found in the local coastal waters. Since March 2007, marine mammal and seabird strandings and deaths off the Southern California coast have increased markedly. These incidents have been linked to the recent and dramatic increase of a naturally occurring toxin produced by algae. Most of the animals found dead tested positive for domoic acid. According to the Channel Islands Marine and Wildlife Institute, "It is generally accepted that the incidence of problems associated with toxic algae is increasing. Possible reasons to explain this increase include natural mechanisms of species dispersal (currents and tides) to a host of human-related phenomena such as nutrient enrichment (agricultural run-off), climate shifts, or transport of algae species via ship ballast water." In popular culture
In the TV series Elementary episode "The Red Team" (original air date January 31, 2013), a witness is intentionally poisoned with domoic acid. In the "Bad Fish" episode of Get a Life (original air date: February 2, 1992), Sharon and Gus get amnesia after eating bad shellfish, and Chris seizes the opportunity to convince them that they are his best friends. Domoic acid poisoning may have caused an August 18, 1961, invasion of thousands of frantic seabirds in Capitola and Santa Cruz, California.