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Another worrying development: Pfizer buying Astra-Zeneca. It's not to streamline drug development, the deal is a tax dodge in its entirety. Some lovely commen

Another worrying development: Pfizer buying Astra-Zeneca. It's not to streamline drug development, the deal is a tax dodge in its entirety. Some lovely commentary down the hallway, in the Pipeline: http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/04/28/pfizer_and_astrazeneca_what_the_hell.php http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/04/28/pfizer_and_a... Scientists worry about the cuts to NIH funding, but the cuts to pharmaceutical research are ten times more worrying - who is going to develop the compounds to replace the current set of antibiotics when they have become useless? Wall Street is entirely unequipped to deal with this question; there are things that cannot be bought with money or at market, and scientific progress is one of them.

refurb 13y ago
Pfizer got out of antibacterial R&D a few years back. And I have to take issue with your comment "scientific progress can't be bought with money". What do you call all the new drugs that have been produced in the last century? It wasn't done by the government. Yes, basic research funded by the NIH advanced basic science, but it didn't put those pills in a bottle.
Fomite 13y ago
"who is going to develop the compounds to replace the current set of antibiotics when they have become useless" - Academic science. Most of the basic, foundational research in clinical medicine is done by academia, not the pharmaceutical industry.
lotsofmangos 13y ago
who is going to develop the compounds to replace the current set of antibiotics when they have become useless? IBM, with nanotech PET - http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/nanomedicine.shtml#fbid=klilCTIj3Vr http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/nanomedicine.shtml#fbid... And I know it is viruses, not bacteria, but MIT's DRACO is also pretty cool - http://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html http://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html

refurb 13y ago

Pfizer got out of antibacterial R&D a few years back. And I have to take issue with your comment "scientific progress can't be bought with money". What do you call all the new drugs that have been produced in the last century? It wasn't done by the government. Yes, basic research funded by the NIH advanced basic science, but it didn't put those pills in a bottle.

Fomite 13y ago

"who is going to develop the compounds to replace the current set of antibiotics when they have become useless" - Academic science. Most of the basic, foundational research in clinical medicine is done by academia, not the pharmaceutical industry.

lotsofmangos 13y ago

who is going to develop the compounds to replace the current set of antibiotics when they have become useless? IBM, with nanotech PET - http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/nanomedicine.shtml#fbid=klilCTIj3Vr http://www.research.ibm.com/articles/nanomedicine.shtml#fbid... And I know it is viruses, not bacteria, but MIT's DRACO is also pretty cool - http://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html http://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html