- Saloni Dattani: Every disease is a policy failure. A good overview of how far we’ve come in treating many diseases, but also a thoroughly depressing perspective and one that I can’t endorse. It’s like saying “poverty is a policy failure.” No. Poverty and disease are the default state of the human condition. We should celebrate and cherish each step away from them; beating ourselves up over our imperfections in eliminating them is the road to madness.
- Hugh Rienhoff for the FT: Biotech VCs have become like bankers and we might all pay the price. With the above in mind, I think we can agree that financialization of drug development has brought asymmetric returns to the parties involved, and the closer you are to the actual science the further you are from the rewards. The bankers always win.
- Rahul Parikh and Jonathan Mates for Nautilus: The Trouble with Cancer Screening. There is a school of thought which views information as the ultimate good: the more you have the better. Here is a nice example of when that may not be the case. A pox on every doctor who sends out a screening PSA without first discussing it with their patient.