[Aussiebabe]

this is a nice conspiracy theory on big business, but it doesn't apply to the biotech industry. Much of the research and development is being done by very small companies and worldwide. Big pharma companies are not buying up these small companies and preventing these new drugs from coming to market.

If there are any new miraculous cures, they would get to the market with or without the big pharma companies. What is preventing biotech drugs and practices like stem cell therapies from getting to market, is whether they work or not. So far, it most of the successful stem cell work as been with adult stem cells, not embryonic.

[PieterCasparzen]

this is a nice conspiracy theory on big business, but it doesn't apply to the biotech industry. Much of the research and development is being done by very small companies and worldwide. Big pharma companies are not buying up these small companies and preventing these new drugs from coming to market.

If there are any new miraculous cures, they would get to the market with or without the big pharma companies. What is preventing biotech drugs and practices like stem cell therapies from getting to market, is whether they work or not. So far, it most of the successful stem cell work as been with adult stem cells, not embryonic.

I agree. Small businesses, like the "wild west", are just running with an idea trying to make a go of it, so they "ain't holdin' back nothin'", I would think. They don't have a huge revenue stream like big business, so they're not addicted to it. As they become large, however, like an Amgen (well over 10B in revenue), they've also got to protect their Revenue stream. Hopefully they can realize that it's more easy to sustain revenue by pursuing other goals once a goal is reached, of which there are many (though this may require a lot of dramatic changes inside the company), than to take a single goal that was attained and start relying too much on extending it's revenue.

Also, to a small company, dollars are precious. R & D is pursued seriously and as cost effectively as possible. In large companies, of course, cost effectiveness is always a challenge.

I have a family member who is in the stem cell field; I agree that this is a very good avenue of research. IMHO, I think, like you, that there are going to be breakthroughs as you describe. Hopefully they will come to market in a good way.