Linda and Viv Hailwood, on a long-ago Howgill hike
The
Economist must be the prince of news magazines.
Yes, at times it does suffer from an overdose of British humour and a
wanton waste of vowels – note the superfluous
second “u” in humour – but it
covers what is important in the world with clarity, thoroughness, and, for the most part, a lack of obvious bias
( they do draw the line at the misadventures of our current President, however). Last week’s edition had two articles that concern medicine that are well worth reading.
The first,
describes efforts to “repurpose” drugs, already
approved for one or more conditions, to other uses. Often, I suspect, genetics suggest possible unsuspected efficacies. Repurposing a drug costs a
hell of a lot less than developing one de
novo, and requires less paperwork –
although still, in my view, too much.
Read the link and see if you agree.
A shorter
article in the same issue, https://www.economist.com/business/2019/03/02/global-drugs-firms-are-under-pressure-from-american-politicians
,
examines Big Pharma – a thing we all love to hate – and their pricing
policies. The central question addressed
is, “Why do drugs cost more here than almost anywhere else?”. The answers given will not satisfy you. Drug pricing is one of those issues, a
growing number, about which all I can say is – “There’s a big problem here, but
I don’t know what’n hell to do about it.” When I was younger I would have known - immediately - and like as not been wrong.
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