We’re all painfully aware that pharmaceutical titans aren’t going to put themselves out of business by curing any of the ailments they treat in perpetuity. The biggest problem lies within the ‘charities’ that collect billions of dollars from sufferers hoping for a cure, only to have the ‘charity’ then turn around and crush the very cures they seek to discover. For example; the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation and the American Diabetes Association take in small fortunes every year. Most of that money goes to pay themselves and ‘marketing’ with almost nothing allocated to actually finding a cure. Over the last 3 decades they have been presented with MANY novel possible cures from talented researchers and facilities - everything from mebendazole derivatives, to coating the cells in the islet of langerhans, beta cell replacement, off-lable use of the TB vaccine etc. The PROBLEM is that when presented with a possible cure, the ‘charities’ don’t actually fund any research. For example; If a research facility approaches the JDRF for help with funding, the JDRF simply acts a middleman who passes on any successful research that has reached it’s limit for self-finance to a large pharmaceutical company who then falsely claim they’re going to carry on that research. The screw comes when the company that buys any potential cure/research from the original discoverer/researcher contractually owns it as part of the agreement and…you guessed it… anything viable immediately disappears forever. This happens with 100% of potential cures brought to any of the Diabetes Foundation charities. This is a massive conflict of interest and it needs to stop. If there was a cure for Diabetes both the charities and the Pharma company that brought it to market would both go bankrupt - especially if the cure consisted of any pre-existing drug or treatment that was un-patentable. Asking those two organizations to help cure a disease would be like trying to get the Saudis to finance a water powered car breakthrough. It’s madness and it needs to stop.
I propose 1) a new rule exist that 80% of all donations to any charity whose stated purpose is to seek a cure MUST give that money to PRIVATE research actually seeking a cure. 2) Should that research lead to a successful treatment or successful cure, the FDA should not be allowed to charge the egregious sums to clear said treatment. Its fine of they want to test for safety and efficacy, but that shouldn’t cost a hundred million dollars, 5 years and financial backing from a conflict of interest like a large pharmaceutical company. 3) I would propose that if a successful cure is found for ANY disease the government should do any and everything in its power to assist getting that cure to market including whatever financial agreement has to be made with the researcher(s) who discover it. Big Pharma certainly isn’t going to do it. It would save lives obviously but it would also save the taxpayers small fortunes in the cost of Medicaid and Medicare programs.
Lastly I would propose a new law/policy stating that any pharmaceutical company currently knowingly withholding a cure for ANY illness or disease lose any licenses they hold until that cure is either released or relenquished.