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Posted on 20the July 2022 |
Show only this post Show all posts in this thread (Medicine and Health). |
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As someone who takes a statin, I was very interested to read this article on FreeThink.com, about a trial on humans currently under way to test a CRISPR (gene editing) technique to reduce cholesterol. The treatment is a one-time permanent cure for high cholesterol. Statins are very widely prescribed; reducing cholesterol in the blood significantly reduces the risk of heart attacks and stroke, but there are a host of side effects, ranging from psychological effects to a long list of physical effects; they are also incompatible with grapefruit which vastly amplifies the negative side-effects of statins. Any alternative to taking statins would be very welcome for many people, including myself. Doctors will be pleased to have an alternative treatment for high cholesterol. It will save them the time and effort of regularly prescribing statins. Also, because of the side-effects, many patients resist being prescribed statins, or stop taking them after a while. Medical insurers will probably also be pleased to be able to replace the regular costs of prescriptions for statins with a one-time gene-editing treatment; although CRISPR treatments are not cheap, over the long term probably cheaper than the medicine. | |