[hrkfmud50k]

> After a single application, this strain persists in the mouth indefinitely, hedging out cavity-causing bacteria

> but the developing company declined to go to market, and instead pivoted to selling once-daily probiotic mouthwash.

sounds like they preferred to sell a recurring subscription vs a one-time sale

[0cVlTeIATBs]

"Goldman Sachs asks in biotech research report: ‘Is curing patients a sustainable business model?’"

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/goldman-asks-is-curing-patie...

[pmarreck]

This attitude is so stupid. You could:

1) milk a dumb problem you've already solved, making very moderate profit, or

2) solve it and move onto more interesting problems, continuing to make money

[ASalazarMX]

It's a legitimate question. The article is about gene theraphy, and its potential to cure chronic genetic diseases.

If you create a startup that after a decade creates an affordable and effective gene theraphy for type II diabetes, and most of people recover, will your startup survive curing only new cases of it? Will it be able to tackle another disease before your coffers dry up?

The question can be viewed as greedy companies wanting to milk diseases forever, or as a sustainability issue. Being able to cure chronic diseases affordably will probably become a new socioeconomic challenge.

[fsckboy]

"I wonder if the one-time sale can be "resold" through snogging?" - Phil MacAvity

[totetsu]

Probiotic kissing booth?

[TeMPOraL]

Well, why not? Compared to fecal matter transplants, which are already a thing, tickets to a kissing booth will sell out like hot cakes.

(Can I pay for a monthly pass up front? It's for medical purposes!)

[klyrs]

> Well, why not?

Herpes.

And other viruses, probably, but one incurable STI (KTI?) is all the reason I need to say hell no.

[TeMPOraL]

But in terms of competing with fecal matter transplants - are there no diseases that could be transmitted between... the backends?

[klyrs]

Crucially, the recipient cannot infect the donor in, let's say, the accepted method of fecal transplantation.

[Fomite]

FMT was the topic of my dissertation. Donor stool is heavily screened, and there's pushes both to use the patient's own stool where possible, or creating synthetic stool that is pathogen free.

[autoexec]

Here's hoping that someday someone who cares more about promoting health than padding wallets will take this idea and use it to bring the masses something they can apply once at a low price.

[DropInIn]

So once again we doom the species to eternal torment for the sake of one company's profits....

This shit should just be taken by the state for the benefit of everyone, because really it's insane not to.

[Llamamoe]

Welcome to virtually all of healthcare.

[cellularmitosis]

Why doesn't the state just purchase the IP from them?

[TeMPOraL]

Unfortunately, states these days rarely do anything on their own. So even if they bought or took the IP, they'd still have to lend it to some private manufacturer, who will quickly ensure the government itself ends up locked into a subscription. Either way, some private company gets fat, and society gets shafted: you'll be paying a subscription for this, whether directly to a vendor, or hidden as part of your taxes.

Like usual, the problem isn't whose name is on the box. The problem is the subscription-based business model, which can easily turn into pure rent seeking.

[jaggederest]

Why purchase the IP at all? The proposed funding is for parallel reconstruction - we know it's possible, we have enough details to recreate it, it's a "simple matter of funding" at that point.

[DropInIn]

What is the IP doing now? If it's abandoned what value does it actually have in the marketplace?

Theres no real reason to reward squatting on world changing tech, is there?

[_Algernon_]

While there is some work and capital that goes in to developing the IP, it also builds up on decades of fundamental research that is funded by the public (standing on the shoulders of giants and all that). Therefore, I'd say that a big discount should be had for such a purchase.

[diffeomorphism]

What is the difference? When something is "taken" they still get ample compensation.

[NotYourLawyer]

Yeah, THAT will incentivize people to come up with more stuff like this!

[ajuc]

If free market can't get this done, maybe we should just pay people from our taxes to do such research?

[DropInIn]

The IP is effectively valueless if there is no intent to monetize it.

Really....

[Clent]

It would incentivize them to use or lose it.

The government is protecting their discovery via patent law, why is it not allowed to remove this protection.

Patents and copyright are very recent inventions. Not everyone is motivated by profit. People were inventing things before capitalism consumed the world.

[ImHereToVote]

The employers of politicians would never pay them to do it.

[refurb]

There are plenty of one time therapies in healthcare. Hell, cancer therapies are one course of therapy.

Plenty of ways to make a profit.

My bet is that it was never tested and the claim is entirely a prediction.