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Actually from the research I've done it's NOT a scam at all so much as typical corporate games. The research is VERY sound, at least on the Geron (and other researchers) side.
TA-65 IS a Telomerase "activator". What they are trying to obscure is the fact that it's an isolated synthetic version of the naturally occuring compound (found in extracts of Astragalus membranaceus root) they've been studying and using very successfully and effectivly.
The compound is not only naturally occuring but has been extracted and used by traditional medicines all over the world for thousands of years i.e. not patentable. So they isolated the active componant and then synthsized it for patentability and manufacturing purposes.
Extract of Astragalus membranaceus root was studied VERY extensivly by Geron. They did indeed find that it had EXTREME telomerase activation properties both through topical and in vivo applications. You seriously have to read the findings replete with things like. "25pg/ml of extract produced a telomerase activity at 170% of control"! and regarding cancerous cells "...extract was shown not to increase telomerase activity in KB carcinoma cells, where such activity is already expected to be high... telomerase activity was in fact lower in... treated cells... than in the untreated cells"! It's left me agog! :eek:
Check it out at the European Patent Office site and look up Geron's patent number: WO2004US20363 20040625 entitled FORMULATIONS CONTAINING ASTRAGALUS EXTRACTS AND USES THEREOF and read the description section it's a real mind blower!
What seems to have happened is that Geron has stepped to the serious anti-cancer and medical treatment side of their findings (to patent, make money, and keep their reputation) while they've licensed "TA Sciences" the synthetic copy "TA-65" molecule that Geron synthesized of the active compound from the Astragalus membranaceus root extract.
My guess is that they did so as a way to avoid any liability issues (if TA goes down or gets bitten then Geron just goes about business as usual), or possibly because the TA-65 "activator" molecule is in reality merely a synthetic duplicate of the natural version which can't be patented (therefore no control, therefore no profit) due to it's natural occurance, and historic and continued use all over the world.
Synthesized chems are patentable, naturally extracted ones are generally not. The business "process" of synthesis is also patentable (but only in the U.S.). But not if the compund and the process for extraction are tradionally used by millions all over the world for thousands of years! Oopsie!
What's even more funny is that TA lists several other manufacturer's suppliments as having been "evaluated" by Dalton Pharm services for TA-65 levels! It's funny because the evaluated suppliments are MASSIVLY lower dosages than what's traditionally used in traditional Chinese medicine (not to mention they were probably sitting on store shelves for years loosing whatever medicinal properties they ever had to begin with)!
I wish Geron would have at least picked a more savy, sophisticated, and less blatantly greedy storefront than TA-Sciences seems to be. But then again I'm betting Geron knows exactly what's going to happen. Everyone will figure out the little scam and instead of paying $22,000 will just go find an equivalant herbal extract suppliment to take for $5. Heck you could even just follow the explicit directions for extraction listed in their euro patent (exactly the same as the traditional Chinese medicinal extraction methods) and make it yourself just like millions of people in Asia do every day! LOL! :p
[Posted by: Emerged at July 8, 2007 9:03 PM]
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