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249 points randycupertino | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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tptacek ◴[] No.45949908[source]
We get threads about this on HN a couple times a year, and I feel like people have never thought this through. The company that cures T1D or MS will make approximately eleventy jillion dollars. The mustache-twirlers engineering MS into a chronic manageable disease rather than curing it would simply be outcompeted and put out of business by the straight-mustached cure owners. If you believe the mustache-twirlers are capable of suppressing knowledge of a viable cure, I'm going to have fun selling you on a lot of more-plausible conspiracy theories; for instance, the faked moon landing, which would have required less collusion and been less impactful to the world.

In a strict sense, curing a single disease isn't a long term "sustainable business", because you'll eventually push the population of affected patients below a threshold of profitability. The premise of a major pharma company is that they keep finding other treatments.

replies(2): >>45950010 #>>45950660 #
1. loeg ◴[] No.45950010[source]
Also like, ~everyone who works in pharma, from the grunts up to the C suite, is genuinely interested in making people's lives better and improving health. Profit is a strong motive, but it is not the only motivating force.