Read this article from the NYT’s about the booming industry behind fecal transplants and weep.
“At the heart of the controversy is a question of classification: Are the fecal microbiota that cure C. diff a drug, or are they more akin to organs, tissues and blood products that are transferred from the healthy to treat the sick? The answer will determine how the Food and Drug Administration regulates the procedure, how much it costs and who gets to profit.”
Well, I could answer that question rather quickly. But as someone who has lost exclusive ownership of my own organs, tissue and blood products, I understand it’s a lot more complicated. What’s mine is not really mine.
“An obscene amount of money is being thrown around by companies trying to profit off of what nature made,” said Dr. Khoruts. “I don’t think there are clear villains here, but I worry that the regulators are not caught up on the latest science and that the interests of investors may be exceeding those of patients.”
Ok, I know I’m becoming rather shrill but tell me this is not a refrain.
“Much like the fight over prescription drug prices, the “poop wars,” as one doctor described it, mirrors long-running tensions in American health care between pharmaceutical companies and patients.”
Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes.
What if the pharmaceutical industry had a different model? Charging as much as the market will bear–the old supply and demand of capitalism– views illness as an opportunity. That is an inherently ugly concept. Imagine that rather than striving to deliver obscene profits to investors, pharmaceutical companies sought to develop the highest number of therapies at the lowest cost to consumers?
Medicine should not be a luxury good, but rather something that is accessible to all who need it. Think public education. And although I am not a market analyst and so can’t specifically address the feasibility of my proposal, I have to think that it is doable. But it will require a seismic shift in values.
As someone with skin (and plasma) in the game, I want to tell you that it sickens me that my contribution to science has been sullied by what I view as greed. Disease is a hardship, not a business opportunity. I have volunteered my time (right? I’m referred to as a volunteer in those protocols I sign) and I expect those of you who have continuously profited off of the misfortune of myself and others to reevaluate your motives. Consider this. At the end of the day would you rather see more drugs developed and marketed at costs that are affordable, thereby helping many, many people, or a higher profit margin, benefitting a few?
The answer to that question should be easy as well.
life and breath: outliving lung cancer 