Congratulations!!

Completely brilliant idea meeting learners where they are and changing the next generation. hats off Jaime et al!

Never forget about training. The 1st author on the suzetrigine paper got his start in research as a postbac in the intramural program at NIH, a PhD at Columbia and a postdoc with Nobel laureate (although not at the time) David Julius at UCSF.

www.linkedin.com/in/jeremiah-...

/fin

Second: Of course, it was done in the private sector. Drug companies like Vertex have expertise that is complementary to that in academia although there is certainly some overlap. It is this complementarity that empowers the system (with appropriate regulations) to help humankind.

32/n

First: it is profoundly obvious that this would not have occurred without the huge foundation of fundamental research, conducted in laboratories in the US and around the world. This includes biochemistry, pharmacology, and neuroscience with the development of key technologies in every field.

31/n

Remarkably, families were discovered with individuals who did not seem to experience physical pain and the variation responsible was mapped to the gene for NaV 1.7.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17167479/

23/n

He demonstrated that these toxins blocked sodium channels, using some of the electrophysiological methods pioneered by Hodgkin and Huxley and subsequently improved. After 5 years at NIH, Catterall moved to Seattle to set up his independent laboratory at the University of Washington.

11/n

Bill Catterall had completed his PhD at Johns Hopkins Med and then moved to NIH to do postdoctoral work with Marshall Nirenberg and then stayed on as a staff scientist at the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute. He worked on neurotoxins from scorpions, sea anemones, and salamanders.

10/n

They performed the experiments in the squid giant axon. This nerve which controls part of the water jet system of this animal is much larger than most nerves, making it accessible for experimental investigation.

5/n

Sodium currents were detected and characterized by British scientists Alan Hodgkin and
Andrew Huxley who collaborated first before and then, 7 years later, after WW II. They developed methods for measuring currents across cell membranes.

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

4/n

Let trace back how this drug was developed. First, let’s think a bit about sodium channels.

Actually, without sodium channels we wouldn’t be doing much thinking or anything else. They are among the most central players in the transmission of signals in our nervous system.

3/n

The FDA recently approved a novel pain medication developed by Vertex, Journavx (suzetrigine)

www.fda.gov/news-events/...

1/n

I’ve followed your writing for a long time. I’m so terribly sorry to hear you are on this hard journey too. Solidarity and please know you are very much not alone.