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Your piece made me think "my brother should read this" and because his birthday is coming up soon, I just ordered the year of physical issues as a gift. I think this is exactly the kind of thing he would want to read, and he always prefers analog to digital, so that's perfect for him!

There are some great insights here. I spent years in clinical research, and you’re right that misalignment of incentives is one of the biggest bottlenecks in developing and getting patients access to treatments. Well done!

As a largely AI skeptic, its use in healthcare could be revolutionary if deployed “correctly.” Development of novel therapies, analyzing all of someone’s health data and risk factors, earlier detection of problems and earlier treatment could all be realized. It doesn’t have to be just AI slop.

I had the same exact reaction. Totally inspired. Also immensely frustrated and furious by the setbacks which were absolutely not inevitable.

The central drama of the modern world is innovation against suffering, and we have made incredible progress so far. But we are doing far worse than we could. Millions still suffer from untreatable diseases, because of bottlenecks that we could fix. You can help fix them.

Nicely put! What's frustrating is the $$ required to not only support science but also distribute its bounty are so miniscule compared to existing spending. Ramping up expenditures would dramatically improve quality of life in the long term for token sums relative to GDP. Good science has a big ROI

Great stuff! Just FYI, there are new FDA approved treatments for Alzheimer's disease (though they are risky and not very effective). E.g. www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.... Your argument about incentives is convincing. But why should the task of drug development not simply be absorbed into the state?

nejm.orgLecanemab in Early Alzheimer’s Disease | NEJMThe accumulation of soluble and insoluble aggregated amyloid-beta (Aβ) may initiate or potentiate pathologic processes in Alzheimer’s disease. Lecanemab, a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody that b...