So close to curing HIV (Huge weakness discovered)

AlphaMale · #1 08-01-2008, 04:24 AM

http://www.kvue.com/news/state/stori....14e217f8.html

bassist 4 life · #2 08-01-2008, 04:35 AM

awesome, i really hope that they finally find a way to kill this thing.

peterbright · #3 08-01-2008, 05:11 AM

Wouldn't it be great? We've heard this more than a few times in the past however...it hasn't happened yet.

heroincredible · #4 08-01-2008, 05:18 AM

As with most other diseases, it will find a way to adapt to cures and will still be around.

i_got_a_mohawk · #5 08-01-2008, 05:27 AM

Hope it works, im sceptical tho

Bassic83 · #6 08-01-2008, 05:30 AM

Unfortunately, keeping AIDS around is MUCH more profitable for the drug companies. Wouldn't surprise me if it never makes it's way to market. Ford Stuart is taking nine pills a day? Three of the four are new drugs? He gets this, and he goes from a $450/day customer to a $0/day customer, thus cutting off the income stream to the drug companies.

Not likely. Not only that, but the abzymes are naturally occurring substances, precluding being patentable. That's strike two...

Sorry to be negative, it would be truly remarkable to finally have a cure. They will likely skew the results in the human trials to deem it ineffective at best, and come up with a variant that doesn't actually cure the disease, but reduces it. That will keep AIDS research money flowing, and keep people hanging on for the cure.

Same thing goes for cancer. They're starting trials for a nanosphere treatment for cancer (I forget which kind), they believe it will cure cancer. But I don't think it will, the drug companies make WAY too much money from cancer patients to give up that revenue-generating scourge.

Greed is the disease that needs to be cured first.

Bassic83 · #7 08-01-2008, 05:46 AM

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...o/5916620.html

Here it is- I found it. Nanoshells, they call it. For additional support to my theory, read the comments at the bottom. One of them tells the story of a lady who worked at MD Anderson who got a brain tumor, and because she had just started a new job, her insurance had not kicked in. Therefore, she was not covered, not treatable. She died 3 months later after a short, but agonizing battle, unaided by modern medicine. She was not profitable.

They treated my mother the same way. She was diagnosed, then given palliative care because she didn't have enough insurance. She died 5 months to the day after her initial diagnosis. Two months after she passed, I got a call from UTMB asking where she was for her appointment, and also asking for payment for a small portion that Medicare didn't cover in her diagnosis and surgery (about $200). They told me to pay it, I told them to stick it, and told the rather rude lady on the other end of the phone to stick it, that Mom was taking her dirt nap. The lady asked what I was talking about, a dirt nap? I said "She effing DEAD, you moron." "Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. Do you have access to her bank account? Can I get you to authorize a $200 withdrawal for the balance due?"

Like I said, when someone discovers a cure for greed, THEN I'll be impressed.

ahkiatt · #8 08-01-2008, 05:54 AM

Agree with Bassic83!

There have been many of these websites claiming to have found a cure for AIDS and cancer, so many that I'm numb to such news. I won't believe these sites until I see people getting cured with those miracle cures they claim to be able to produce.

i_got_a_mohawk · #9 08-01-2008, 05:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ahkiatt

Agree with Bassic83!

There have been many of these websites claiming to have found a cure for AIDS and cancer, so many that I'm numb to such news. I won't believe these sites until I see people getting cured with those miracle cures they claim to be able to produce.

Nanoshells are well into being used, as are many other nano particles, such as dendromers, liposomes, quantum dots etc etc.

And you talk about it being more profitable for them to just treat and not cure, this may be true, but, we will never be immortal, we cure AIDS and Cancer, there will just be other things to kill us off, the charts of death are always displayed as pie charts, as you are always going to be in one of those cuts!

**WillPlay4Food** · #10 08-01-2008, 06:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassic83

Unfortunately, keeping AIDS around is MUCH more profitable for the drug companies. Wouldn't surprise me if it never makes it's way to market. Ford Stuart is taking nine pills a day? Three of the four are new drugs? He gets this, and he goes from a $450/day customer to a $0/day customer, thus cutting off the income stream to the drug companies.

+1

The public be damned! I'm working for my stockholders! --Vanderbilt

blizzard · #11 08-01-2008, 06:22 AM

Bassic83 thats a very cynical view, though sadly you might be right.

jazzy grille · #12 08-01-2008, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassic83

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...o/5916620.html

Here it is- I found it. Nanoshells, they call it. For additional support to my theory, read the comments at the bottom. One of them tells the story of a lady who worked at MD Anderson who got a brain tumor, and because she had just started a new job, her insurance had not kicked in. Therefore, she was not covered, not treatable. She died 3 months later after a short, but agonizing battle, unaided by modern medicine. She was not profitable.

That has to do with insurance, not the drug companies... I highly doubt that the guys making the drugs are as "evil" as you think they are. The insurance companies are the problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassic83

They treated my mother the same way. She was diagnosed, then given palliative care because she didn't have enough insurance. She died 5 months to the day after her initial diagnosis. Two months after she passed, I got a call from UTMB asking where she was for her appointment, and also asking for payment for a small portion that Medicare didn't cover in her diagnosis and surgery (about $200). They told me to pay it, I told them to stick it, and told the rather rude lady on the other end of the phone to stick it, that Mom was taking her dirt nap. The lady asked what I was talking about, a dirt nap? I said "She effing DEAD, you moron." "Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. Do you have access to her bank account? Can I get you to authorize a $200 withdrawal for the balance due?"

Like I said, when someone discovers a cure for greed, THEN I'll be impressed.

I don't mean to abrupt, but once again that has nothing to do with drug companies, it has everything to do with insurance. The insurance companies are pretty evil, because they are basically gambling. If they see you as a risk they will not play, our system is messed up like that.

Now I personally think that new medicine will make it on to the market, drug companies are all into innovation. Just take a look at all of the advances in medical procedures that have become more precise and have shortened the the time a patient has to stay in the hospital. Drug companies make money off of innovation, insurance companies do not.

Visirale · #13 08-01-2008, 06:36 AM

How come Magic Johnson found a cure for aids? And all the broke *********** passed away?

**Jerose** · #14 08-01-2008, 06:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Visirale

How come Magic Johnson found a cure for aids? And all the broke *********** passed away?

"Scientists have found that the cure for AIDS is a concentrated dose of about $180,000 shot directly into the bloodstream"

Bassic83 · #15 08-01-2008, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerose

"Scientists have found that the cure for AIDS is a concentrated dose of about $180,000 shot directly into the bloodstream"

LOL!!! Ain't that about right!

scottice · #16 08-01-2008, 08:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bassic83

They treated my mother the same way. She was diagnosed, then given palliative care because she didn't have enough insurance. She died 5 months to the day after her initial diagnosis. Two months after she passed, I got a call from UTMB asking where she was for her appointment, and also asking for payment for a small portion that Medicare didn't cover in her diagnosis and surgery (about $200). They told me to pay it, I told them to stick it, and told the rather rude lady on the other end of the phone to stick it, that Mom was taking her dirt nap. The lady asked what I was talking about, a dirt nap? I said "She effing DEAD, you moron." "Oh, I'm sorry for your loss. Do you have access to her bank account? Can I get you to authorize a $200 withdrawal for the balance due?"

Disgusting. What a greedy bitch!
Makes you want to leap through the phone lines a strangle the person on the other end.

Bassic83 · #17 08-01-2008, 08:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blizzard

Bassic83 thats a very cynical view, though sadly you might be right.

Not so cynical, but definitely realistic.

Bassic83 · #18 08-01-2008, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by scottice

Disgusting. What a greedy bitch!
Makes you want to leap through the phone lines a strangle the person on the other end.

Ya think? She was very rude, in the collections end of things, I'm thinking. I cleaned out Mom's account (luckily, she put me on the account to be able to have access before I drove her out to GA to die), then closed it. Didn't want them to be able to overdraw the account, causing other stuff to bounce. I understand paying medical bills and all, but the insurance had already approved the charge, then retroactively disallowed it. That's just BS.

Bassic83 · #19 08-01-2008, 08:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzy grille

That has to do with insurance, not the drug companies... I highly doubt that the guys making the drugs are as "evil" as you think they are. The insurance companies are the problem.

The insurance companies are pretty evil, because they are basically gambling. If they see you as a risk they will not play, our system is messed up like that.

Now I personally think that new medicine will make it on to the market, drug companies are all into innovation. Just take a look at all of the advances in medical procedures that have become more precise and have shortened the the time a patient has to stay in the hospital. Drug companies make money off of innovation, insurance companies do not.

I didn't say drug companies were evil, I said they were greedy. OK, so maybe those are synonymous to a degree, but my point is, drug companies make money off their patented drugs. Once a drug goes out of patent, generics are allowed to be made by anyone. Drug companies are NOT in this for ANY altruistic means. This is business, plain and simple. Sometimes, certain drugs are so expensive, the drug companies license their patented formula to a single company to produce a limited generic for about half the cost.

Has anyone ever noticed that once the patent on Prilosec ran out, they came out with Prilosec OTC in a few months? They cut the dosage in half, and with it, the price. Still the same drug, but there are also generics out there now. Used to be by prescription only, and wasn't cheap. A 30-day supply was about $120. Now a 42-pill pak is $25-30. Generic of the same thing is $18.

Patents are where drug companies make their money. Once a drug goes out of patent, it usually goes OTC, and generics even drop in price. Then something else "new and more advanced" to treat the same symptoms appears. They have gotten to the point where they have conditioned the American people to be a nation of pill-poppers via TV ads.

Just remember, ASK YOUR DOCTOR IF CRESTOR IS RIGHT FOR YOU!

And yes, insurance companies have the right to determine who will live and who will die. They are evil scum. They're real good at taking money in. Paying it out, mmm, not so much. They will try to pay out as little as possible, if at all. Mostly, they point out obscure legalese fine-print passages that give them loopholes so they don't have to pay. They can literally sentence people to long, slow, painful deaths if it benefits them to let you die. And they do it all the time. Most insurance companies have a legal department about the size of the entire population of Rhode Island! Yes, the system is severely flawed, but it is mandated in many states that people have insurance for various things, from auto to homeowner's, from flood to windstorm to health. If you cannot provide private insurance for yourself, you sometimes fall under Medicare or Medicaid, which is somewhat akin to falling under a bus (or being thrown under one, in any case!).

I'm really not trying to be cynical about all of this- this is our system, and it is deeply flawed. It will get many times worse as the Boomers go into retirement and become a drain on society (read: insurance companies' profits). It would not surprise me to see insurance companies advocate euthanasia as a cheaper alternative to treatment for even simple conditions.