AIDS Research Expert Says Look to Governments for Cure

America’s founding fathers took government to be a necessary evil, but by 1980, many on the right doubted its necessity and underscored its evil. The market was deemed to be the salvation of mankind. A quarter of a decade on, it is clear that in the field of health research, the market can’t deliver and government must. Dr. Edmund Tramont, a world-class AIDS researcher, has told Congress business has no interest in an AIDS cure.

Dr. Tramont is no crackpot AIDS activist; he is, in fact, head of AIDS research at the National Institutes of Health. Recently deposed in an employment lawsuit, he testified, “If we look at the vaccine, HIV vaccine, we’re going to have an HIV vaccine. It’s not going to be made by a company.” To understand why, one only has to look at the business model.

As the pharmaceutical companies never tire of saying, developing a new drug that is both effective and safe is an expensive and time-consuming proposition. Indeed, to those from a century ago, the things that modern medicine can do look down right miraculous – and they are. Under a private enterprise model, those entities that develop such drugs do so in the expectation that their investment will be rewarded with profits, which is not an unreasonable expectation.

However, one is not talking about a single company looking for a single cure for a single disease. Instead, the company is competing with others for talent and capital to tackle a wide range of conditions. Those that will be addressed first are not the easiest, nor the most wide spread; the market doesn’t do that. Rather, the diseases that will be addressed first are the most profitable to handle. Moreover, the nature of the treatment depends on profits. Diabetes is treatable, and it must be treated everyday for the rest of the patients life, meaning a recurring stream of revenue for the provider of insulin. A cure for diabetes would kill the golden-egg laying goose.

Excessive cynicism would say that there is no reason for AIDS or other diseases to be cured when eternal treatment brings in more revenue. There are enough medical people still who believe in healing the sick at whatever price. But throw in the insurance issues, the militancy of many AIDS activists, and the inevitable failures that come with scientific cutting edge research, and the private sector would rather find a treatment for a disease that comes with fewer obstacles to results.

Ken Johnson, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, denied Dr. Tramont’s statement. “That is simply not true. America's pharmaceutical research companies are firmly committed to HIV/AIDS vaccine research and development with 15 potential vaccines in development today.” Excellent news, but time will tell, and the business models say the members of the PRMA are doing their shareholders a disservice if he is right. This journal will gladly eats these words if Mr. Johnson is proved correct. That is the beauty of science and empiricism, eventually, one knows the truth.

© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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