Cure for cancer

[Snapolit1]

Am I the only person who hears some variation of this from someone every week:

“You know the drug companies have a cure for cancer. They could end cancer tomorrow. But they won’t do it because there’s no money in it. That’s right. They could end cancer but it will kill their profits.”

I swear I near this once a week from some otherwise sober people. What does it say about us as a society that so many people believe in something that is so insane?

[Peter_Spaeth]

One hears lots of conspiracy theories about drug companies, it's a good advertising trope for so-called alternative medicine doctors and products -- they don't want you to know about this!!

I actually do think from experience some companies in some circumstances push the line ethically when it comes to clinical trial results and safety claims. But the notion that big pharma is capable of suppressing cures is silly.

PS if you want to read a sobering piece on big pharma, read "Pharmageddon" by Dr. David Healy. Very interesting.

[packs]

I don't think the conspiracy is full blown or anything but it is true that insurance companies will deny effective treatment if it's too expensive and force a patient to endure lesser treatment for longer periods of time for no real reason at all. In a sense that is keeping a cure from some people.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think the conspiracy is full blown or anything but it is true that insurance companies will deny effective treatment if it's too expensive and force a patient to endure lesser treatment for longer periods of time for no real reason at all. In a sense that is keeping a cure from some people.

A young man with whom my son went to school was recently released from the hospital psych unit because the family's coverage ran out. Two days later, he stabbed a man in the grocery store, fortunately not fatally.

[Snapolit1]

Insurance companies will always steer you towards the cheapest alternative. That I agree with 100%.

[packs]

My mother is currently under treatment and while her team of specialists laid out a sophisticated course of treatments at specialized institutions, her insurance company, who has taken money from her during her entire healthy life when she didn't need the insurance, rejected the proposed treatment. Instead they're forcing her to undergo twice as many therapies over twice the time. And it's not because it's more effective, it's because it's cheaper.

[Leon]

Originally Posted by packs

My mother is currently under treatment and while her team of specialists laid out a sophisticated course of treatments at specialized institutions, her insurance company, who has taken money from her during her entire healthy life when she didn't need the insurance, rejected the proposed treatment. Instead they're forcing her to undergo twice as many therapies over twice the time. And it's not because it's more effective, it's because it's cheaper.

That incident should be a crime. Sorry to hear that and hope your mom gets better.

[Jantz]

Originally Posted by packs

I don't think the conspiracy is full blown or anything but it is true that insurance companies will deny effective treatment if it's too expensive and force a patient to endure lesser treatment for longer periods of time for no real reason at all. In a sense that is keeping a cure from some people.

My girlfriend's health insurance company tried dropping all coverage on her the very next day after she was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer.

packs,

I hope your mother gets the treatment she needs and starts to feel better soon.

Jantz

[packs]

Thank you. I hope the same for your girlfriend. I've had some people in my life go through that diagnosis as well. I know how daunting it can be.

[bravos4evr]

I mean, the internet has increased the number of people who think the earth is flat exponentially so.............

[samosa4u]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Am I the only person who hears some variation of this from someone every week:

“You know the drug companies have a cure for cancer. They could end cancer tomorrow. But they won’t do it because there’s no money in it. That’s right. They could end cancer but it will kill their profits.”

I swear I near this once a week from some otherwise sober people. What does it say about us as a society that so many people believe in something that is so insane?

I've heard this many times before too and I completely disagree with it. If drug companies - or any company - did have a cure for cancer, then the rich and powerful would never die from this disease. Look at Steve Jobs, for example. This was a very powerful man with a lot of powerful connections around the world, and yet he died from this disease at a young age. Another example is Fred DeLuca, the founder of Subway, and multi billionaire, who fought this disease for a few years before losing to it at the age of 67.

[njdunkin1]

This looks incredibly promising. Prospective cure/vaccine for cancerous tumors has seen a 97% percent success rate among mice and has been cleared for human trials:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkNl12BaeSI

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

“You know the drug companies have a cure for cancer. They could end cancer tomorrow. But they won’t do it because there’s no money in it. That’s right. They could end cancer but it will kill their profits.”

To those people i say there are many companies working on a cure and the one that does will make a truck load of money.

[packs]

I don't really see why the drug companies would have financial incentive to keep you sick anyway. If you've got insurance, it's the insurer that's going to shoulder the brunt of the cost. If you don't have insurance, the drug company isn't ever getting paid. The insurance companies have just as big a lobby force as the drug companies. I would think it would be in the interest of the insurer to either deny your drugs or keep you healthy so they can get paid for nothing.

[drcy]

A close friend of mine is a medical researcher at Oxford. I won't be showing her this thread, as she already mocks Americans (including me) enough as it is . . . She also has less than zero interest in baseball and baseball cards.

There are many things to say on the topic, but I'll leave it at that cancer isn't one thing and a company or person who had the cure for 'cancer' WOULD make a TON of money. There are 15,112,098 people with cancer in the US alone. At whatever-charge X 15,112,098, a company with the cure would make a ton of money. An incredibly modest $10,000 x 15,112,098 = $141,120,980,000, which is more than amazon, Verizon and GE's total worth. And that's only for US cancer patients. Now tell me which company is going to pass that up? And, of course, that $10,000 is so incredibly modest that it's absurd, and any company with the cure for cancer would be the richest company in the world.

[Topnotchsy]

Originally Posted by drcy

A close friend of mine is a medical researcher at Oxford. I won't be showing her this thread, as she already mocks Americans (including me) enough as it is . . . She also has less than zero interest in baseball and baseball cards.

There are many things to say on the topic, but I'll leave it at that cancer isn't one thing and a company or person who had the cure for 'cancer' WOULD make a TON of money. There are 15,112,098 people with cancer in the US alone. At whatever-charge X 15,112,098, a company with the cure would make a ton of money. An incredibly modest $10,000 x 15,112,098 = $141,120,980,000, which is more than amazon, Verizon and GE's total worth. And that's only for US cancer patients. Now tell me which company is going to pass that up? And, of course, that $10,000 is so incredibly modest that it's absurd, and any company with the cure for cancer would be the richest company in the world.

Exactly. There is no single company involved, there are hundreds of companies desperate to find a cure for financial or other reasons. There are many thousands of researchers at non-profits and universities looking for a cure. Each would love to be the first to discover a break through. I worked in the genetics industry and was involved in cancer related testing. The incentives are huge for even a minor step forward and there are a ton of independent parties pursuing it.

Also as others have stated, cancer is not a single disease, it is a large category that includes dozens and dozens of diseases.