28 September 2019 | New Scientist | 9Pharmaceuticals Archaeology
Clare Wilson Clare Wilson
SIX people from England have
travelled to Argentina to get supplies
of two potentially life-saving
medicines for cystic fibrosis,
treatments that are otherwise
unavailable to them because the
National Health Service in England
says they are too expensive.
Five of those affected need a
medicine called Orkambi, which
costs about £100,000 per year.
There is no valid patent on the
treatment in Argentina, however,
so a company there sells a generic
version for £24,000. The sixth
person bought a similar treatment.
Orkambi, which consists of two
drugs combined, was approved for
use in the UK in 2016. Studies of
its effectiveness have given mixed
results, but one of the most
favourable finds it nearly halves
the rate of disease progression.
Price talks between manufacturer
Vertex and NHS England are in
deadlock, so some people with
cystic fibrosis and their families
have decided to source the cheaper
version by setting up a buyers club,
in which potential customers band
together to negotiate lower prices.
The families flew to Argentina
this month to get a three-month or
six-month course of the treatments.
Their NHS doctors have agreed to
monitor those on the drugs during
treatment to check for side effects.
“It’s a promising start, but
what’s vital is that we get access
for everyone,” says Rob Long, who
helps run the buyers club and was
one of those who made the trip.
Long says the UK should take other
steps to provide the medicine.
Some families of people with
cystic fibrosis are considering
moving to Scotland, which has
recently agreed to provide Orkambi
through the NHS.
In a statement, Vertex said:
“Vertex and NHS England continue
to meet regularly and our intensive
discussions continue.” ❚
UK buyers club flies
to Argentina for
cheaper medicines
THREE small spouted drinking
vessels collected from ancient
graves of small children may
have been used as prehistoric
baby bottles. The artefacts,
found in Bronze and Iron
Age settlements in Germany,
contain traces of animal milk.
The pots are a window on
a key stage in human history
when there was rapid population
growth aided by the ability to
nourish babies with something
other than human breast
milk, says Julie Dunne at
the University of Bristol, UK.
“They bring you very close
to the past, to prehistoric
mothers and children.”
Over a hundred spouted clay
vessels in assorted shapes have
been found in various European
prehistoric settlements dating
as far back as 7000 years.
The idea that such vessels
were used for babies is long-
standing, especially as a
few were found in infants’
graves, but an alternative idea
is that they were for feeding
watery foods like gruel to sick
or older people.
Dunne’s team analysed
chemical residues from
spouted pots that were found
in the graves of three young
children, which dated back
around 3000 years.
Two vessels had fatty acids
found in milk from goats, sheep
or cattle. The third had a profile
suggesting it had containedboth animal and breast milk
at various times (Nature, DOI:
10.1038/s41586-019-1572-x).
The vessels could have been
used to wean babies off breast
milk or given to those whose
mothers had died, says Dunne.
The appearance of animal
milk in children’s diets is
important because when
women are breastfeeding, they
are less able to get pregnant.
Modern hunter-gatherers tend
to breastfeed their infants for up
to five years, which then spaces
out their children. “They’re on
the go, they don’t want to have
to carry and manage lots of
babies,” says Dunne.
When people took up
farming, feeding infants withsomething other than breast
milk would have let families
have children in quicker
succession and boost the
population, says Dunne.
Animal milk wouldn’t
have been the only alternative
baby food to breast milk, says
Francesca Fulminante, also at
the University of Bristol, who
wasn’t involved in the study.
“Cereals and pulses might also
have allowed women to stop
breastfeeding earlier.”
Other studies looking atchildren’s bones from this
time period suggest that solid
foods were given from around
six months of age and that
children were fully weaned
by two to three years.
Feeding babies with animal
milk would have increased their
risk of infections, says Dunne,
and it wouldn’t have had the
same balance of nutrients as
breast milk. However, “while
animal milk may have some
drawbacks, it always beats
starving to death”, says Amy
Tuteur, who writes about
breastfeeding at her website,
The Skeptical OB.
Some spouted vessels found
at other prehistoric sites have
intricate designs. One seems
designed to appeal to a child: it
has an animal’s head that could
have been used as a handle and
two feet to stand on, with the
drinking spout emerging from
its bottom (pictured below,
third from left). “It shows real
love and care,” says Dunne.
“They think a young infant
is going to laugh at this.”
Dunne’s team made a
replica of one bottle and
gave it to a friend’s 1-year-old,
filled with apple sauce. His
mother reported that he
seemed to enjoy wolfing
down its contents. ❚Prehistoric vessels may
have been baby bottles
KA
THAR
INAREBA
Y-SAL
ISBURYSpouted vessels may
have helped wean
children off breast milk3000
the age in years of some of
the prehistoric baby bottles