Friday, May 16, 2003

U.S. Pushes for Rights Commissioner to Become U.N. Representative to Iraq. The Bush administrations says such an appointment could broaden the United Nations' role in the faltering reconstruction effort. By Elizabeth Becker with Felicity Barringer. [New York Times: International]I think Bush is making a big mistake in taking responsibility for building democracy and stability in Iraq. It is a no win situation. The country has never had a democracy or a free economy. This is not something that can be learned on Bush's timeline. Bush's team will fail and the Iraqis will blame the failure on the US. Let the UN take on this responsibility and the US comes out looking good. 9:02:40 PM

Companies May Cooperate on Cancer Drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are considering collaborating to lower the cost and speed the development of cancer drugs. By Andrew Pollack. [New York Times: Health]This is certainly an interesting idea, but one with so many hurdles that no one should expect anything soon. The vision presented by Ingram is sadly misinformed. Targeted therapy will not be the money loser he describes. Imagine the current scenario; 50% of 10,000 cancer patients get your drug. 75% of these patients do not respond and only receive 2 rounds of therapy at $1000 each. 25% of the patients have a response and receive 10 rounds of therapy and are cured. (This is significantly more effective than any marketed therapy.) In the future with genetic screening and targeted therapy you will treat all 25% of the 10,000 patients with your drug that can respond and now all will get the full 10 rounds. The hypothetical company selling this targeted therapy would make 25% more with the screening ($20.1M vs $25M). Someone will also profit from the cancer screening system. 8:57:55 PM

Radiation Tackles Tumors on Two Fronts [Scientific American]The idea is certainly not novel as radiation is not prejudicial about its cell targets. The innovation is in the novel experimentation allowing a true demonstration of the effects of radiation on multiple tissues. 8:32:00 PM