Unfortunately the comic missed the reason why such research continues: people will pay most of their money for a cure for (or even a temporary reprieve from) _t

Unfortunately the comic missed the reason why such research continues: people will pay most of their money for a cure for (or even a temporary reprieve from) _their_ cancer. This becomes "all of their money" rather than "most..." if their child has cancer. Cancer centers are enormous money-generating systems. Most of their research is useless but the doctors running them get rich, the corporations who own them get rich, all of their patients die and in the end nobody cares so the process continues.