Gujarat scientist in US Developing Tech for effective treatment of brain diseases
"It's a long process, but this technology will help those suffering from any kind of brain diseases. Currently, only 0.1% of any drug given for brain ailments is able to enter the brain. It is a challenge to deliver the drugs inside the brain, which blocks a major quantity," explained Shah, who works for a private biotech company in Boston.
"We are developing antibodies that will increase the quantity of drugs delivered inside the brain from 0.1% to 1%.
This will increase the efficacy of drugs. We discovered a protein that captures the drug and puts it inside the brain. Our firm even got IP rights. Such an experiment is being undertaken for the first time," Shah told TOI over the phone from the US. The team's work has also been published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Shah, 38, was also a member of the team working on an effective drug for Alzheimer's, which currently has no cure.
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"We are trying to find out the reason behind the spike of a certain protein that causes Alzheimer's. If we manage to ascertain the reason and control the accumulation of this protein, we will be able to delay the advancement of Alzheimer's. The drug is already in the trial stage," Shah, a senior scientist, added.
He is the only Indian in the team working on this drug.
A student of Bright School in Karelibaug, Shah completed his Bachelor's in Pharmacy from A R College of Pharmacy in Vidyanagar in 2009. He then pursued a Master's in Pharmacy at the University of Toledo in Ohio. "I wanted to stay in the field of drug discovery, so I pursued a PhD in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Kansas in 2011. Then I shifted to Boston, where I worked with a small firm before joining my current company in 2020," said Shah, who is settled in Boston with his wife, Kinjal.
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