[melling]

“Just 20 years ago..."

Personally, when people think we are making good progress on something, I’m reminded of these words:

“Before this decade is out...”

Sure, great and rapid progress might require a couple percent of US GDP, and a million people working on a problem, but advancing medical research a few decades in the next 10 years, would benefit everyone.

[aplummer]

The thing about clinical trials, is there is a minimum time it takes to run one. You can up concurrency but it only gets you so far - you really need to know the long term impact before you can iterate much.

[trentnix]

As Brooks said (paraphrasing), "you can't make a baby in one month with nine women".

[melling]

So, that wouldn’t be a good way to address basic medical research for some sort of Manhattan project.

To make great progress over a decade, we’d need to do something else to advance medical science.

[aplummer]

The thing is honestly, we make incredible progress every decade. What's important is doing it carefully, correctly, and investing in the right areas to make real positive change (less viagra and hair loss probably).

Just a decade ago, Hepatitis C wasn't curable in nearly 100% of patients (in 12 weeks with limited side effects!). It isn't great news cycle content to focus on rehashing the great achievements we have recently made.

It's heartbreaking to have such a methodical approach for sufferers now of course.

[refurb]

I work in the industry and I agree we make remarkable progress now. And for some technologies like CAR-T and gene therapy, we’ve just started.

Your HCV example is a great one. Before the anti-virals, it was interferon. You had to take it for months and from talking to people, it makes you feel like you have the flu...for months. The label actually describes a risk of suicide. It’s a very rough drug to be on and the cure rate is <50%. And that’s if you stick with it, which many people don’t.

Today, we have regimens that are weeks in length, minimal side effects and 99% cure rates across all genotypes.

You’re talking about going from a very difficult to cure, chronic condition that can lead to liver failure or liver cancer to just being cured after 12 weeks.

It’s absolutely remarkable.

[melling]

Here’s the story about the accidental discovery of Viagra.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jul/11/from-vi...

For some reason, every time this discussion happens, people think we spend a lot of research money on hair loss and impotence drugs.

Next, move onto how much care for people with Alzheimer’s is costing:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alzheimers-costs-americans-277-...

It would be cheaper to invest into medical research...

[cbhl]

Hmm, if memory serves, there was an old paper from 2013 that viagra might help with womens' period pain. (Dilates the blood vessels, right?)

Did follow-up studies for that ever happen? Was it affirmed/refuted?

[panabee]

what's the craziest idea you have heard of that would advance medical science?

[peterlk]

Usage of BIL Gates in gene therapy - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcriptor

The possibilities boggle my mind

[sizzle]

"Biological computers will probably obviate the use of many pharmaceutical drugs."

My mind is blown, to say the least. Thanks for sharing!