Infamous Exubera Insulin Disaster
Opening restrictions of what a guided problem is allows us to achieve greater results. A simple rendition of this can be seen with consumers perception of what “cures” or medicine is. The lay public expects a pill to solve our problems. Which inversely effects the professionals own vision of what their goals are. Any cure that a researcher imagines is heavily influenced by what they perceive the consumer will accept, overwhelmingly a pill or vaccine. When new forms of delivery are brought to the edge of market they are often marred internally as “untested” or the cost of implementation by an older method is brought to attention. Exubera was developed when predictions throughout the healthcare industry pointed to a diabetes epidemic, which of course we are smack in the middle of now. In that climate a non-invasive inhalable insulin seemed like it would pay its weight in gold, it didn’t.
Today, the oracles in their glass towers predict a surge in respiratory illness. Rightfully pointing to developing nations, i.e. China, India and their falling air qualities & rising numbers of healthcare consumers. Guiding research towards COPD, cystic fibrosis and others, all of which are significant causes of suffering. Chasing after the dollar often is the best method for innovation; healthcare however, has often demonstrated to be a more complex system requiring greater foresight than simply following consumers pocketbooks and wants. Adding to this are the already strict standards which government agencies apply and by so doing hinder the progress of medicine.
This often brings up the fear that the regulations were placed to keep the public safe and still to-date so many dangerous drugs make it to market every year; a moot point, in that many of the addictive, high risk drugs which make it to market are often brought about by public want. Pain-killers & anti-depressants, all poster ads for substance abuse and hollywood over-doses. Truly increasing life span and quality significantly, requires a new paradigm of for-profit research and public perception of medicine. Extinctus Modus Operandi.
Petri Dish Talk 