
Is There a Conspiracy Preventing a Diabetes Cure?
For as long as there has been research to cure diabetes, there have been people who believe that a cure will never happen because treating this disease is simply far too profitable. Those who believe in this so-called "conspiracy theory" are convinced that pharma companies have a vested interest in keeping diabetes around as long as possible because peddling their treatments is far bigger business than a cure could ever be.
We all know that diabetes is a multi-billion dollar industry, including sales of insulin, oral agents and injectibles like
Victoza, and medical devices such as insulin pumps, glucose monitors and their pricey test strips, and new continuous glucose monitors. Type 2 diabetes is increasing exponentially, but even type 1 diabetes is growing at a dramatic rate, which means more and more consumers.
The latest flare-up over a possible "conspiracy" occurred in August, when a news article about controversial researcher Dr. Denise Faustman circulated around the diabetes community. In the article, Faustman says that when she approached pharmaceutical companies for funding, she was told "there wasn't enough money to be made in a cure that used an inexpensive, generically available vaccine."
But is that even true?
Certainly, there are legitimate financial considerations these companies' research & development decisions. But does that mean they never work on cure research? Would pharma really sweep a possible cure under the rug to protect their own interests -- especially if it turned out to be a cheap vaccine?
Who's to say?
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