Allow me to entertain the fact that traditional medical science (practice) has failed many and that begs the question as to why one would pursue alternative methods (I.e.-herbal medicine men/women). It’s certainly rational for one to say, “what do I have to loose” when repeated treatments have failed specifically BPH with urologists and many others. Korean red ginseng has proven itself effective against specific disorders as well as peptides. We are aware that newer medicines like Skiritzi and Dupixient contain carcinogenic substances and we accept that long term risk for the immediate relief of discomfort and pain form chromes disease, ulcerative colitis, and plaque ceriasis.
This is very important work. What you uncovered is an industry, Wellness Inc,. that has actually become more profitable overall than Big Pharma! Unfortunately though, it is not more profitable than Cancer Inc, where the cures will be labeled safe, but the outcomes over the past 20 years are dismal. The author looks only at the perverse economic incentives for Wellness Inc., ignoring the near-total capture of the business of cancer by the pharmaceutical industry and its partners, the major cancer hospitals.
He says he will "bring these recommendations for a second opinion to a major academic center". That is kind of like bringing the mouse to a cat for a second opinion. These academic cancer centers are harnessed to the pharm industry and the millions needed to license new drugs and bring them to market. These drugs are often inaccessible to patients without top shelf health insurance or massive wealth. Biomedical advances do not require profiteering - no wonder patients question whether or not their doctor is on the payroll, and look elsewhere for care. They look to "alternative medicine" Studies show that many currently available, repurposed drugs already on the market and very affordable could be useful for different cancers (I was part of a clinical trial to determine this), but large randomized controlled trials are needed, and these will never be funded unless massive profits can be virtually guaranteed. I am currently on a treatment which has kept me in remission since 2018, but it will never get a randomized trial funded because there is no money to be made on it.
Estimates vary, but we know that a minimum of 25% of all cancers have an environmental or "lifestyle" cause. This would seem to be an important place to start to make a difference, but Cancer Inc. totally ignores environmental hazards and toxic ultra-processed foods that are cheap and easily afforded by the working class. So patients who want that kind of holistic, preventative approach turn to "alternative medicine"
(To anyone reading this who takes supplements, I urge them to consult Consumer Lab, an independent organization that tests most supplements out there for purity and toxicity.)
So I think it is important to note that Wellness Inc. would not exist without the failures of Cancer Inc. People with cancer are understandably desperate; they deserve medical care that is neither a fully-owned subsidiary of Big Pharma nor a bunch of quacks pushing pseudoscience. In an economic system driven wholly by private profit, I am not sure that is even a reasonable hope.
Very intriguing article and a great focus on a serious sociological issue facing humanity as a whole.
When the series is done, make it into a book?
Thank you! Absolutely - already in the works!
Allow me to entertain the fact that traditional medical science (practice) has failed many and that begs the question as to why one would pursue alternative methods (I.e.-herbal medicine men/women). It’s certainly rational for one to say, “what do I have to loose” when repeated treatments have failed specifically BPH with urologists and many others. Korean red ginseng has proven itself effective against specific disorders as well as peptides. We are aware that newer medicines like Skiritzi and Dupixient contain carcinogenic substances and we accept that long term risk for the immediate relief of discomfort and pain form chromes disease, ulcerative colitis, and plaque ceriasis.
Hope can,at the very least, become promising if only on the psychological level.
This is very important work. What you uncovered is an industry, Wellness Inc,. that has actually become more profitable overall than Big Pharma! Unfortunately though, it is not more profitable than Cancer Inc, where the cures will be labeled safe, but the outcomes over the past 20 years are dismal. The author looks only at the perverse economic incentives for Wellness Inc., ignoring the near-total capture of the business of cancer by the pharmaceutical industry and its partners, the major cancer hospitals.
He says he will "bring these recommendations for a second opinion to a major academic center". That is kind of like bringing the mouse to a cat for a second opinion. These academic cancer centers are harnessed to the pharm industry and the millions needed to license new drugs and bring them to market. These drugs are often inaccessible to patients without top shelf health insurance or massive wealth. Biomedical advances do not require profiteering - no wonder patients question whether or not their doctor is on the payroll, and look elsewhere for care. They look to "alternative medicine" Studies show that many currently available, repurposed drugs already on the market and very affordable could be useful for different cancers (I was part of a clinical trial to determine this), but large randomized controlled trials are needed, and these will never be funded unless massive profits can be virtually guaranteed. I am currently on a treatment which has kept me in remission since 2018, but it will never get a randomized trial funded because there is no money to be made on it.
Estimates vary, but we know that a minimum of 25% of all cancers have an environmental or "lifestyle" cause. This would seem to be an important place to start to make a difference, but Cancer Inc. totally ignores environmental hazards and toxic ultra-processed foods that are cheap and easily afforded by the working class. So patients who want that kind of holistic, preventative approach turn to "alternative medicine"
(To anyone reading this who takes supplements, I urge them to consult Consumer Lab, an independent organization that tests most supplements out there for purity and toxicity.)
So I think it is important to note that Wellness Inc. would not exist without the failures of Cancer Inc. People with cancer are understandably desperate; they deserve medical care that is neither a fully-owned subsidiary of Big Pharma nor a bunch of quacks pushing pseudoscience. In an economic system driven wholly by private profit, I am not sure that is even a reasonable hope.