Political pressure for a ban soon became irresistible, even though the ACMD had virtually no evidence at all about the pharmacological properties of the drug itself.
The development program that a company would have to carry out to convince the FDA and other regulatory agencies that a drug truly had anti-aging properties would be long, difficult and expensive.
If the protein really could be turned into a drug with both contraceptive and anti-microbial properties, the idea of which many experts are skeptical, it could have wide appeal.
Police in Colombia have seized almost 300 properties belonging to one of the country's most notorious drug lords, Daniel Barrera - known as The Madman.
Wald thinks the same will be true for drug-coated stents: Sales may be determined as much by the material properties of the stent as by the restinosis rates, which, Wald says, are similar among competitors.