http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2...tion=australia
http://www.theage.com.au/national/sc...0817-3x2v.html
MELBOURNE scientists have developed a drug that may prevent a condition responsible for up to 45% of all deaths in the Western world.
The drug's potential is so great it could mark an end to dialysis for patients with kidney disease and reduce the need for organ transplants.
Scientists from the University of Melbourne, St Vincent's Hospital and Bio21 Institute say the breakthrough could rival Ian Frazer's cervical cancer vaccine in putting Australia on the world map of medical discoveries.
The drug works by preventing the spread of fibrosis - the irreversible scarring of vital organs that underpins many major killers such as kidney disease, heart failure, diabetes and lung and liver problems. As fibrosis advances, it causes such extensive damage that the organ shuts down, eventually resulting in death.
There is no available treatment that prevents or halts the spread of the condition and scientists internationally are racing to be the first to produce an antifibrotic drug.
The Melbourne discovery, named FT-11, has created such international excitement that the US Government has pledged up to $3 million to accelerate the drug to market - the first time such a grant has been awarded in Australia.
The Melbourne project has had a 100% success rate in trials on rats and will be trialled on about 30 Victorian patients within months.
The compound not only produces dramatic improvements but displays no side effects.
