How about ovarian, Jack?

Borrego Springs

She liked hiking, quilting, gourding, & just sitting in the sun

 

I used to watch the TV show “60 Minutes” years ago, but I stopped because I was put off by their frequent resort to what I call “gotcha journalism”.  They would ambush some poor chump and pummel him so badly that I would feel sorry for him, no matter what he was reported to have done (or said or thought, or represented)  But now, after Florence DiJulio alerted me to this segment I may have to start watching again.  Check this out, and stifle your disbelief.  This kid is real.. 

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57606995/boy-wonder-jack-andraka/

Jack Andraka is 15 years old and a high school freshman.  He has invented a method for detecting pancreatic cancer early.  The test costs 3 cents, and takes only minutes to perform.  I’m not going to try to tell you how it works: I don’t quite understand myself, I would garble what I think I know in the telling, and you probably don’t care, anyway.  Suffice it to relate that it involves detection of a rise in the abundance of the protein mesothelin.  Pancreatic cancers are associated with an abnormal concentration of mesothelin, apparently from an early stage.  If you can detect pancreatic cancer before it spreads you have a good chance of saving the life of the patient.  Otherwise, no.  Jack may just have saved thousands of lives.

 

Of course, Jack’s test has to get FDA approval, and this involves massive clinical trials extending over several (to many) years.  If I understand the situation correctly, Big Pharma (Pfizer, I think) stands ready and eager to shoulder the costs of such a test.  And why not?  If the test costs 3 cents and they sell it for a dime, and if everybody in America gets it, the gross profit would be something like $2.45 million.  (Better check my figures; I did that in my head.)  Anyway, profits would be enormous.  And, guess what?  Jack patented the idea!  At  that age all I could think about was girls and basketball!

 

It is well known that Bill Gates and, I think, Steve Jobs dropped out of college and went on to be billionaires.  Jack Andraka may be the first billionaire to drop out of high school.

 

To show you just how badly we need an early detection device for pancreatic cancer I’m going to try to attach a graph.

 

Hell, I can't figure out how to make this damned thing bigger

CAROLYN!

                 Oh, I see.  Just click on it and it gets bigger.  Who would have thought!  Duh!

Damn!  How I do hate dumping ice water on my own enthusiasms, but I must.  In reading about the cancer marker  mesothelin - that which Jack detects - I find that there is considerable doubt about  usefulness for detecting pancreatic cancer.  I will dig deeper and report.