make money or cure cancer

[dot.hawkes]

read in my son's New Scientist weekly to day that an old drug, dichlororoacetate, already long since patented has been proven to attack and destroy the cells that are behind the onset of canerous cells. But no pharmacuetical company will manufacture or distribute it because there is no money in that, only in patenting and licensing it.

Surely that is not true? Or have i mixed it up?

I have re-read the article and it says that the use of this drug stops the cancerous cells killing the healthy cells, but it is not profitable.

[raysparx1]

Hello dot, if that is true,it really does sum up what sort of world we live in, if it won't make billions, they don't want to know, very sad.

[dot.hawkes]

Blimey i found it online, i will tell my son to use that site now and save himself �2.70 a week

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/opinion/mg 19325873.000-editorial-no-patent-no-cancer-dru g-development.html

[Carakeel]

Patients do NOT come first in the pharmaceutical industry dot. If only things were that simple! For the pharma industry the manufacture and success of a drug, which would inevitably eventually rid us of this devastating disease, would in actual fact be a disaster. These companies would no longer be able to hold the world to ransom for all the hundreds of drugs they provide with which patients with all the different forms of cancer are today treated. A lot of extremely good work is done by the pharma industry dot. However, even friends of mine who are themselves doctors working for this industry say the patients take second place in the considerations of the manufacture of drugs. Shareholders and the incredible profit that can be made and is made come first! It breaks my heart, as I know too well just how patients and their families' lives are devastated by not having access to vital treatment to save their precious lives. As you know I lost my son to brain cancer and have myself had bone cancer. We all want to believe that there will be a drug very soon that will put an end to this cancer misery once and for all. But will the governments be willing to give up the revenue they get from these pharmaceutical companies? If a cure really is found it will with certainty cancel out the production of a great many drugs that are being used today. Will the shareholders, the company bosses etc be willing to sacrifice their take from these drugs? They will have their lobbyists fighting to protect their interests. It is a sad world where money comes before life, but that is reality.

[raysparx1]

dot,what else I find a bit sad is the fact you get two replies so far,yet if you had asked what a condom was you would have got 50 or more.

[honky-tonk]

When used consistently and correctly, latex condoms are highly effective in preventing the sexual transmission of HIV condoms are also effective in preventing pregnancy and several sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Using condoms lowers women's risk of developing cervical cancer, a disease associated with HPV. Consistent use of condoms can also help people clear HPV infection or reduce their risk of re-infection.

[honky-tonk]

oh forgot to add they are free from local family planning or via local GP surgery

[honky-tonk]

who has the right to put a price on life? What the government is in effect saying is that "saving lives isn't worth the cost of these drugs" .

[Pippa68]

After reading about the governments plan to stop supplying the �2.50 per head drugs which relieve the symptoms of Alzheimers, nothing surprises me.

Oh and ray..I agree with you regarding your last post :o(

[idalovett]

I'm incredulous but I don't feel that this is applicable to all cancers as they have many shapes and forms. This goes beyond scientific reasoning to the laboratories in specific countries that all want to be the first to shout that they (the Country) were the first to find a cure. If a drug was so easily obtainable then why does any Country bother with chemotherapy, radiation oncology, surgery etc? Its not a matter of cost but any Country in the world scoring points at being the first to cure this disease in all its guises. The New Scientist Weekly is not the best of rags to base fact on. The drug may stop some cancerous cells in a certain part of the body which could be zapped with radiation so it would probably not be profitable and other drugs may achieve the self same thing. Who knows? I am not a scientist but I will never believe hype mentioned in one editorial and not the press or any Government in any Country or any private laboratory that have been for years trying to find a cure.