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I'm a self-professed germ-o-phobe. Technically I'd be a
called a mysophobe, as in I'm someone who lives in fear of contamination from
viruses and bacteria. As long as you can't call me 'sick,' then I'm indifferent
to the namesakes. Though my stress hasn't reached OCD-type levels, I'm the
first one to squirt the hand sanitizer when I walk past it in the office. If
someone around me sneezes more than once, I immediately take two steps back. In
the winter, I won't touch my own face without washing my  hands first. A vitamin
C and a multi-v accompany my breakfast every morning. If it was up to me, I'd live
in my own hyperbaric bubble from November until April.
It used to be that an adolescent fear of needles prevented
flu shots, so I'd take extra care to stay out of the way of influenza. After
[more than] a few years and several tattoos, the needles aren't so scary. The
flu shot is a proactive and sensible way of protecting myself. It was the next
logical step of my mysophobia.
But seriously, where the heck is my rhinovirus vaccine? I've
come to grips with the fact that my school-teaching girlfriend is probably
going to get me sick with a cold once or twice a year. The fact that this is
now an accepted inevitability is major progress for my mysophobia.
Afterall, each year the World Health Organization expends
considerable resources to prepare for the next expected influenza outbreak. By
February the organization provides drug manufacturers with two lists, one
apiece for the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, which outlines which
three or four flu strains are going to be prevalent  the following winter.
Almost immediately production begins on vaccines for next year. Evidence
suggests that a flu shot reduces a person's chances of infection by 60%. Newer
vaccines are seemingly more expensive each year (up to 30%).
While protecting the public from influenza, a virus which
still claims 500,000 lives each year, is a noble feat, it's not done for free.
This year, drug manufacturers are expecting around
$3.7 billion in revenue from newer four-strain flu vaccines. Innovative
manufacturing techniques may yield even higher cost recapture. So, it's a
surprise that drug manufacturers haven't been able to capitalize on the
mostly-innocuous common cold.
Recent research suggests that a rhinovirus vaccine may be
developed in the near-future. There are three families of rhinovirus: A, B, and
C. Rhinovirus C escaped the scrutiny of drug researchers until 2007, when it
was first discovered. Types A and B are easily cultured in lab environments,
but C remained hidden until advanced gene sequencing discovered the virus
existing within the same cells as A and B.
 Previously, gene sequencing techniques allowed scientists to
analyze and map types A and B. To combat these types of rhinovirus with a
vaccine, the molecule's external protein structure needed to be mapped.
Anti-viral drugs work by attaching themselves to weak points of the virus's
structure. So while the surfaces of rhinoviruses A and B have been mapped for
years, it wasn't until last month the surface of rhinovirus C was determined.
Types A and B were mapped via X-ray crystallography, but type C was charted in
a computer simulation using bioinformatics and the genetic sequences of 500
type C genomes.
This is advanced medical research, so there is no timetable
for when a cold vaccine could become available. Furthermore, it would likely be
some type of proactive injection which contains the vaccine for a spectrum of
rhinoviruses.
So what will it take to get an effective rhinovirus
drug? First-likely another division of
the World Health Organization to monitor the trends of rhinoviruses and make a
best guess as what is to come. Second, a drug manufacturer will need to pony up
the $700 million, give or take, that it takes to develop a new drug and send it
to market. Furthermore, this drug will need to be inexpensive for the patient,
since cold symptoms are relatively mild, and have almost no side effects. Drug
corporations could expect a capital expense of nearly $1 billion when all is
said and done.
So there it is. Why am I going to stuck in bed, hacking,
blowing, and sneezing? Because of business strategy. Seriously.
Resources
U of Wisconsin--Madison - Model virus structure shows...
NY Times - Cure for the Common Cold?...
CNN - Better flu vaccine on the horizon
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Re: Business: The Cause of the Common Cold
