Cancer Drug May Not Get A Chance Due to Lack of Patent

theshowmecanuck writes to mention that in a recent study, researchers at the University of Alberta Department of Medicine have shown that an existing small, relatively non-toxic molecule, dichloroacetate (DCA), causes regression in several different cancers. From the article: "But there's a catch: the drug isn't patented, and pharmaceutical companies may not be interested in funding further research if the treatment won't make them a profit. In findings that 'astounded' the researchers, the molecule known as DCA was shown to shrink lung, breast and brain tumors in both animal and human tissue experiments."

Comments

Re:Good thing this is in Canada...

[FallLine]

The research in question was funded by a Canadian federal government agency, and I'm certain that one or two well-funded, non-profit and/or public sector agencies will step up to the plate to study whether the proposed treatment is safe, and if so, some smart non-intellectual-property-driven and yet profitable organization will market it.

This misunderstanding is typical of you anti-patent people. You can buy this drug at drug stores today. No need for generic manufacturers to produce it. You need someone who will actually spend a lot of bunch to test the drug and prove that it is safe. All they have right now is some evidence that it works in a petri dish and in mice.

There is a very real chance that the drug won't work (cancer and diabetes discoveries like these have a loooooooooooong history of not working in real life patients and sometimes even killing them) and it will take many several hundred millions of dollars to find out with any certainty. This means that your "generic" drug companies will have to invest lots of money and, even then, their investments may all be for naught. The "generic" drug company would be stupid to pay for it because even if they prove the drug works, other companies could come in very quickly and sell it at its actual marginal cost (way below the price they could recoup R&D on) or doctors will simply prescribe the existing compound to patients (presuming this drug requires no modification).

How much do you want to bet that you never hear about this drug as a cure for cancer several years from now?