Am a virologist, and this is over-hyped, but not for that reason. The PKR/dsRNA response pathway is activated by a number of non-dsRNA viruses. There are double

Am a virologist, and this is over-hyped, but not for that reason. The PKR/dsRNA response pathway is activated by a number of non-dsRNA viruses. There are double-stranded intermediates for lots of viruses, including herpesviruses, that we don't necessarily appreciate or know exactly how they're activated. The major issue is that these are macromolecules, and it is incredibly difficult to deliver these in vivo. Every pharmaceutical encounters this problem, and the fact that it isn't really addressed is probably why no companies are biting. There is some mouse data in the (single) paper, but it is missing some important controls. 1. He never shows that the protein makes it into the cells of the liver/kidney/lung/etc, just that there is some identifiable protein in the organs, and 2. he doesn't control for general immune activation from the injection of the protein, even though he has a control DRACO in the tissue culture experiments. Also, though it may be overkill, he never shows IFAs of the actual DRACO protein inside the cells from tissue culture.