This is a posting from an alternative email list that I'm on:  

"Hi!  Here is an editorial today from the New York Times that is a perfect
analogy for what has been wrong with the drug companies.  If the drug companies
sat on a way to unclog the arteries,  the editorial writers want to know what
else they are "sitting" on. "  

A New Way to Unclog the ARTERIES
ast week's report of an experimental treatment that seems to remove plaque from
clogged arteries is potentially good news for legions of people threatened with
cardiovascular disease. If the findings can be verified in larger and longer
studies, the medical profession may have entered a new era in treatments to
ward off heart attacks and strokes. Yet this therapy might never have been
pursued were it not for a fluke discovery that made patenting possible.
Otherwise there would have been little financial incentive for any company to
develop the treatment for clinical use.
Although the results announced last week are more suggestive than conclusive,
they clearly have scientists excited. Intravenous infusions of a genetically
engineered protein actually caused fatty deposits on artery walls to diminish
in volume and thickness. The rate of reversal, after just five weekly
infusions, far exceeded anything previously achieved with drugs or diets used
for much longer periods. The substance infused contained a genetically
engineered variant of the key protein in high-density lipoprotein cholesterol,
the so-called good cholesterol.
For some time now, pharmaceutical companies have been trying to develop pills
that might stimulate the body to produce its own H.D.L. cholesterol, thus far
with no great success. An alternative approach, infusing H.D.L. cholesterol
directly into the body, was shown effective in animals more than a decade ago,
but the industry never really pursued it. One reason was that companies saw
little economic incentive in using a normal body protein for therapeutic
purposes, since it would be hard to gain patent protection. A medicine that
could be made and sold by anybody had little potential for profit. That problem
was circumvented in this case by using a mutant form of protein discovered
among some 40-plus inhabitants of a small Italian village. That made the drug
unique, and patentable.
Several companies are exploring different approaches to develop their own
H.D.L. pills or infusion therapy, increasing the likelihood that science may
find a new weapon against clogging of the arteries. That's good news. But the
fact that such a promising treatment was widely ignored because there was no
immediate profit potential is disturbing. In theory, the nation's great web of
government-financed medical research institutions should step in to promote
development of the kinds of drugs and therapy that industry regards as
unprofitable. This story makes one wonder how many similar gaps exist in the
vaunted American research establishment.