Cure the cancer?
I got a book from library last week; its written about brain surgeon Dr. Keith Black by Arnold Mann and the name of the book is “Brain Surgeon a doctor’s inspiring encounters with mortality and miracles.”
I really liked the book; I’m always amazed by the stories that doctors tell. They meet with a lot of patients and they have the ability to make these patients feel better or make them better.
Although I did not quite understand a part in the book;
Quote:
The classically trained basic researcher is focused on finding a particular molecule or process, and then studying every aspect of that molecule or process, because that’s the way the traditional funding mechanisms work. That molecule may hold the key to curing cancer, but researchers are not necessarily focused on trying to cure cancer; they are focused on simply trying to understand how their molecule works.
They are ofthen unlikely to make the transition from lab discovery to clinical application on any number of grounds. First, researchers don’t generally have the expertise to understand the clinical issues involved in the treatment of cancer. Second, historically there has been no payoff for them to do so. Quite the opposite is the case; going in that direction could cost them their funding if it doesn’t work. Researchers are not going to risk getting funding cut off if they are doing very well getting their grants and learning how this molecule bends, turns, and binds to other molecules. That’s the way 99 percent of academic researchers operate. That’s the way that 99 percent of science operates.
Meanwhile on the clinical side, physicians treating cancer patients have little or no understanding of the basic research going on in the laboratories, or that a molecule under investigation has the potential to become the next big advance against cancer. Clinicians are in the trenches, treating patients, waiting for the pharmaceutical companies to get FDA approval for new drugs they can add to their arsenal. They are not interested in trying to bring in a new molecule to treat cancer. They don’t have the time or the expertise to do that.
end quote.
I think patients wait for the cure are waiting for nothing. Because nothings gonna be found, only new drugs to kill cancer but not make it go away indefinitely. When we say “I don’t think I can see the cure of cancer but I’m sure my child can see that day” we’re just dreaming. The way the system works simply don’t focus on finding the cure.
