I wonder how much of the work those 70.000 cancer researchers do is theoretically unnecessary busywork like applying for research grants or dealing with office

I wonder how much of the work those 70.000 cancer researchers do is theoretically unnecessary busywork like applying for research grants or dealing with office politics. Further I wonder how much of their research is optimized for looking reputable to the people writing the checks vs. what they think would really move the needle. Sure cancer is a complex problem but 70 thousand is already a massive amount of people so I can't shake the suspicion that instead of throwing even more people at the problem changing the environment in which they work would be much more effective.