[quote=njtosd][quote=CA renter]Yes, it would make them a bad person. Yes, I agree that this is being done with respect to treatments that cannot be patented (have seen it with my own eyes). Viva capitalism.[/quote]
The NIH is supposed to pursue therapeutics that are needed but not commercially justifiable. I wouldn’t say capitalism is the problem – its the failure of government agencies to do what they are supposed to do.[/quote]
Right, too many revolving doors between industry and government is the problem, IMO.
In the case that I know of (a family friend of ours with late-stage lymphoma), the compound was illegal to use in the U.S., but available to patients in Canada and Mexico under compassionate use programs. He was repeatedly told by his U.S. doctors not to go to Canada to get this treatment. They were pushing him to get conventional treatment (chemo). He was told to get his affairs in order because he would be dead within six months, even with conventional treatment. That was in ~1995. He went to Canada. He’s still alive today.
From what I understand, the developers of the compound, 714-X, were trying to get it tested in a U.S. laboratory as part of the FDA approval process, but the laboratories shut them down; rumors circulated that it was because some large pharmaceutical companies who used/controlled the lab stopped them from continuing. The NIH has done some very preliminary research, but hasn’t pushed it through. This is just one of thousands of stories just like it where other natural “medicines” have been used to cure things like cancer.
Needless to say, I’m hugely skeptical of our for-profit healthcare system. As I mentioned in another thread, the countries with socialized medicine not only have an incentive to truly make people healthy, they have an incentive to keep them that way. They have long banned toxic chemicals from their foods and cosmetics, etc. while our *bought* govt continues to tell us how these toxic chemicals and compounds are “safe” for us to ingest and use on our bodies everyday.
The ideal patient in a capitalistic healthcare system is one who lives a long life with numerous, expensive treatments and interventions. This does not bode well for people who simply want to get and stay healthy with the fewest, least expensive, least invasive, and least damaging treatments.
