Researchers from the University of the Pacific School of Pharmacy have helped discover a possible breakthrough drug.
The drug could help prevent a rare form of heart failure.
Familial amyloid cardiomyopathy is an inherited condition that causes heart failure.
It affects about 4% of African Americans and about 20% of people over 80-years-old.
Researchers from the UOP School of Pharmacy, Stanford Medical School, and Scripps Research have discovered a drug called AG-10 which can stabilize proteins that sometimes attack the heart causing it to fail.
UOP Researcher Dr. Mamoun Alhamadsheh says the only treatment available now is a heart and liver transplant.
"There are so many issues with heart transplants as I mentioned, they cost about a million dollars for the heart, and about a half million dollars for the liver transplant, you need to find the match," says Alhamadsheh.
Dr. Alhamadsheh says AG-10 offers hope for about 50,000 patients who suffer from the condition.
"So from 3-4 years, if everything went fine, this could be a drug on the market,” says Alhamadsheh.
The drug also offers a possible treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
CapRadio provides a trusted source of news because of you. As a nonprofit organization, donations from people like you sustain the journalism that allows us to discover stories that are important to our audience. If you believe in what we do and support our mission, please donate today.