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We need better drugs -- now

slimvictor

slimvictor

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Dec 29, 2008
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Today we know the molecular cause of 4,000 diseases, but treatments are available for only 250 of them. So what's taking so long? Geneticist and physician Francis Collins explains why systematic drug discovery is imperative, even for rare and complex diseases, and offers a few solutions -- like teaching old drugs new tricks.


 
You can bet that pharmaceutical companies are trying whatever they can possibly come up with.
 
progeria is so weird. That 15 year old kid is physically 105 years old!

S.J.B. said:
You can bet that pharmaceutical companies are trying whatever they can possibly come up with.
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Not every disease is equally profitable. Drug companies throw everything at the big ones, but the rarer ones aren't worth hundreds of millions of dollars in research to them.
 
^^which is incredibly sad. why do diseases have to be profitable to be curable? Id bet it one of the board members or ceo's of these major pharm companies developed some crazy off the wall, rare disorder or disease they would be shoveling money towards it..but if the regular joe contracts that disorder, you can bet your ass good bye, joe. sad state of affairs weve brought our society to these days.
 
^^Well put, Captain. I agree with you.

I wonder how the greedy phucks are going to feel when the middle class has vanished completely.

We need a lot of stuff. Better drugs isn't the first item on the list.
 
zekethemusicman said:
Id bet it one of the board members or ceo's of these major pharm companies developed some crazy off the wall, rare disorder or disease they would be shoveling money towards it.
Click to expand...

It'd be a nice gesture if they did, but it's not a solution to the greater problem. Charity is not a dependable form of social policy. Government must step in and fill those gaps. It's up to government to develop new drugs.

Unfortunately, public science funding is being cut throughout the world because of Austerity. The budget of the NIH was just slashed in the US by 8%.
 
It can cost a billion dollars to get a new drug to market due to FDA regulations and requirements for trials and testing. There is also a lot of trouble brought about by our drug patent system. Government intervention doesn't work with drugs that get you high and it doesn't work with drugs that make you healthy.
 
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