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HighpriestIalu t1_iykybkz wrote

Cool. Can someone tell me why this won't lead anywhere just like the 80 thousand other attempts at this? So many dead ends have made this gay man cynical. :(

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pavlovs__dawg t1_iylbn01 wrote

It might go somewhere, but at this stage, these results are meaningless. I posted a version of this comment somewhere else in this post but basically seeing antibodies after injecting a foreign antigen is expected and has no bearing on whether those antibodies are effective. This is an extremely routine process. It would be like trying to craft the perfect barrel of whiskey and your test to determine if it’s the best barrel of whiskey is to light it on fire. Of course anything with alcohol will ignite but that doesn’t mean the whiskey tastes good. This is just too early to be excited about a potential vaccine

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awildhorsepenis t1_iykyl0y wrote

i think technology has finally caught up. Guess we’ll see.

Sorry you’ve lost folks on the way.

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EstrangedLupine t1_iyl29vz wrote

>Sorry you’ve lost folks on the way.

I don't think that's what he meant by "dead ends"

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chopyhop t1_iylpafc wrote

If you are out for a 'perfect cure' in medicine, you are rarely ever going to get it.

However, what you are describing happens as a result of the fact that after these initial press releases (which are often misunderstood or misrepresented to be an 'wonder cure', when the researchers themselves never claimed as such), the wider public do not retain interest in a specific story, largely because there are millions of researchers around the world all working in many different fields producing exciting research all the time, resulting in multiple headlines of high impact every week.

But the reality is that medicine has moved forwards considerably, even in the last 2, 5 and 10 years, even if you feel that all these breakthroughs are going nowhere.

These breakthroughs do go somewhere, and often lead to improvements. It's just impossible for any one person to keep track of.

The fact we don't have an outright cure for many viral infections, cancers or neurodegenerative diseases doesn't mean that nothing is happening. The quality of life and life expectancy of many patients is increasing substantially every year.

>the wider public do not retain interest in a specific story

So, going back to this point from the start of my comment, if you are particularly interested in a specific story you can save its original research citation and then look up what articles cite it in the future, and future work by those authors, you will see often that parts of the research can be adapted into many other people's work, even if the original drug/idea doesn't make it to humans.

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TaqPCR t1_iylp2cz wrote

Someone infected with HIV constantly makes new HIV antibodies. HIV then mutates to make them not work anymore because most of the protein is junk to block the important bits.

The issue isn't getting your body to make antibodies, it's getting your body to make ones that bind to the important bits that can't be changed from the right direction so the junk isn't blocking it.

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DoraTehExploder t1_iyl87xs wrote

Gladly, nothing will happen because cures are a one time purchase and treatment is forever.

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TheGoodFight2015 t1_iyl9sik wrote

Yeah this is dumb because if one group can make a cure, they will reap multiples of billions very quickly.

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fallingcats_net t1_iyljtzb wrote

The problem with one group is, they are easily bought by an established pharma corp

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[deleted] t1_iyllgfy wrote

[deleted]

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skarn86 t1_iylmh6z wrote

Those promising treatments are, for a large part, working.

Of course cancer is not one disease, it's a lot of distinct diseases with a few common features, and as such they are treated with a broad spectrum of different techniques. Many of those promising cures of course didn't pan out (such is the difficult path of progress), but many other added one extra arrow to our quiver.

Have you checked how the survival rates for cancer have changed over the decades?

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DoraTehExploder t1_iylf6vs wrote

You ever heard the thought experiment surrounding choosing to take $100 today or $1 every day for the rest of your life?

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TaqPCR t1_iyloqza wrote

Yes the CEO has the company take the $100. Exclaims how he's made the company a ton of money very quickly. Then moves on.

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TheGoodFight2015 t1_iyvr874 wrote

Patents expire. Treatments will enter generic use licensing. There is no conspiracy to stop the treatment of cancer, that’s absolutely ridiculous. You think the smartest scientists in the world could ALL be bought off without anyone saying anything? A lot them work for way less money than you’d expect… they’re not in it for the money they’re in it for the cure. You’re bordering on disrespect for cancer patients and cancer scientists and healthcare workers.

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DoraTehExploder t1_iyx9f6n wrote

Lmao ok, you enjoy huffing on that ignorance buddy; it is meant to feel like bliss after all. If you ever decide you wanna join the real world you could start with Googling the difference in patent law since the early 1800's, which are the definitions you seem to be going off of, and then you could move on to understanding the separation of will between the business arm of a multinational capitalist institution and the subtextual will of those whose work is exploited for sale.

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TheGoodFight2015 t1_iyywbwi wrote

So you think we have discovered a cure for cancer and corporations are just crushing it time and time again? No young budding scientist has ever blown the lid on it? Everyone is being fed a total lie?

I agree corporations are controlling our societies in ways they shouldn’t be, but you’re starting to trickle off into the rant in the style of a Q’anoner and it’s not endearing to your side. I haven’t even disagreed with the idea of power structures controlling itself, just pointing out the inconsistencies in the argument. I’d invite you to do the same and be logical if we want to have a real discussion.

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HardwareSoup t1_iyl8jnl wrote

There are plenty of pharma companies out there willing to make billions from vaccinating half the human population.

So don't let cynicism get in the way of a good dollar.

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DoraTehExploder t1_iyl9lhv wrote

Mmm but see the difference is HIV/AIDS is terminal. If they can own you by threatening to withhold your life saving medication then they've got you for life. Something like a highly communicable respiratory disease is another whole story.

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TheChance t1_iylbn6n wrote

At the intersection of magical thinking and dumbfuckery, live on Reddit for one night only, it’s Pharma Loves Illness!

Perfectly functional adults look at abusive, powerful entities and respond, not by reacting to the abuses, but by looking for even more cartoonish abuses.

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HighpriestIalu t1_iyle7gs wrote

After seeing what these companies do with Insulin, it's not a stretch to see why people might feel this way. People regularly die in the US because they can't afford it. Pharma companies couldn't give a shit.

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DoraTehExploder t1_iylexqu wrote

Oh but I thought this expert knew all about the abuses of the pharmaceutical industry, surely they know about the withholding of life saving medications instead of going on as if it's some kind of hypothetical and not something that actively happens on regular basis...

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TheChance t1_iymw1sg wrote

That’s correct, and it’s a societal-level horror show. /u/DoraTehExploder believes the opposite: that big pharma is withholding medicine until you sign over your soul.

I can’t even figure out their logic. Obviously selling somebody a product over and over is more profitable if they carry the same markup than selling a limited number of something…

…so the obvious thing to do is to let our customers die, whereupon they’ll never be able to buy anything again.

What a maroon.

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DoraTehExploder t1_iynsz9g wrote

You could use some practice with reading comprehension and logical extrapolation. Not once did I ever imply or suggest that the most profitable option was to let the customer die. I suggested that they (being the pharmaceutical industry) could abuse the inelastic demand for a life sustaining medication in order to lock their "customers" (who have the sum total of two choices: A. do whatever is necessary to continue receiving doses of medication or B. die.) into an abusive relationship (read: hostage situation).

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DoraTehExploder t1_iylf2uz wrote

Yes the pharmaceutical industry would SURELY love to cure themselves out of existence! Sustainable business doesn't even come across the abusive executives minds when they charge the public billions of dollars to lead R&D on products that they get to patent in perpetuity and then sell back at ridiculous prices.

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