Medicinal Red Tape

[Myself]

I just thought I'd share this interesting Newsweek article on the state of biomedical research and how it's being strangled by bureaucratic red tape:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/238078

I have no real commentary to add except that it's a terrible human tragedy that lives are cut short or painfully impaired because power hungry politicians fear freedom too much to allow our best minds to flourish.

Edited May 17, 2010 by Myself

[~Sophia~]

I just thought I'd share this interesting Newsweek article on the state of biomedical research and how it's being strangled by bureaucratic red tape:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/238078

I have no real commentary to add except that it's a terrible human tragedy that lives are cut short or painfully impaired because power hungry politicians fear freedom too much to allow our best minds to flourish.

But because Sackstein had described HCELL in a scientific paper, the U.S. patent office told him it was rejecting his application. Ten years of appeals have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees. Sackstein fervently believes his discovery deserves a patent, and it was granted one in Europe and Japan. "You have to persevere," he says. "I can't let it go, because I think the impact on patients could be so great. We've cured osteoporosis in mice." But without patent protection, no company will develop HCELL for people, even in Europe or Japan. For a multinational drug company to go forward, it needs patent protection in the U.S. as well.