The Next President?

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

If the big drug companies thought there was any money to be made from stem cell research then they'd make the money available to research it, full stop.
...My point was simply that they don't seem to regard stem cell as the pharmaceutical Holy Grail that the popular press is claiming. ...Or maybe they’ve looked at the available information and their college graduates decided there’s no “there” there.

Just my opinion.

Semi-cynical speculation follows:
Stem cell research is aimed at correcting health problems, by replacing the defective tissues with new tissue that will do the biological job. Drug companies are in the business of selling stuff that will treat health problems rooted (in many cases) in the tissues the stem-cell-derived new tissue will (hopefully) replace.

If some tissue genius in a lab figures out how to tweek some stem cells into being the tissue that generates the biochemical fix for Type II diabetes, sales of Glucophage and Avandia and Glynase et al will go through not the roof, but the floor. It is not in the drug company's best interests to fund this research; they'd rather research ways to trick bacteria into making human insulin - cheap, clean, and profitable.

In other words, there might be a "there" there, but is it a "there" the company wants to explore?

[Haggis@wk]

In other words, there might be a "there" there, but is it a "there" the company wants to explore?

You might be right but wouldn't they want to be the ones who hold those patents?

All I'm saying is that the industry most often vilified for valuing profits over people is delierately giving stem cell a pass?

We've had research reports on the marvels of stem cell therapy but so far there hasn't been one thing positive about what they are seeing. Some researchers, mostly in developing countries, have claimed success. But no one has yet published successful results in a peer-reviewed medical journal -- a step required for scientific acceptance and confirmation

maybe this will help provide enough raw material to allow indepth research

Banking on Indian Umbilical Cords

LifeCell, based here, hopes to open a cord-blood bank in December. The bank would serve anyone in the world with access to FedEx

now THAT'S capitalism at its best!! Got FedEx? you got blood!

[OperaTenor]

Piq really needs to chime in on this, because she knows firsthand how the system works.

The one thing I came away from our conversations on the subject knowing beyond a doubt was that without the boost from Federal funding, research virtually never happens.

Our recent experience regarding cord blood wasn't nearly so positive. The hospital had zero interest in saving Altoid's cord blood. And this was the renowned-for-its-research Scripps hospiital.

[Haggis@wk]

Our recent experience regarding cord blood wasn't nearly so positive. The hospital had zero interest in saving Altoid's cord blood. And this was the renowned-for-its-research Scripps hospiital.

Not surprising, many "generous" donors have come back when they learned that a facility had made this or that breakthrough, believing that their donation was the critical link, and wanted a piece of the action and frequently became litigious. It just wasn't worth the hassle.

Now they just prefer to buy it ala the story I posted about India

[dai bread]

Cell therapy of various sorts does work, but the results are erratic.

For instance, implants of pig's pancreas cells produce meaningful improvements in diabetics' lives for years. (Sorry, I don't know which type of diabetes, or even if it matters in this context).

On the other hand, a woman who had stem cell therapy for a degenerative brain problem improved markedly for about 4 months, then deteriorated & has now died. This operation was done in China, since it's illegal here. So is the pig cell business. Comments on this latter therapy come from people who were treated before the Govt. made it illegal, over their protests.

[Haggis@wk]

Heh.

Dennis Miller on Leno last night (?) said that he read Hillary's book and when he got to the chapter where she said she didn't have any idea that Bill was cheating on her, he decided then that she was definitely not smart enough to be his president.

[jamiebk]

Heh.

Dennis Miller on Leno last night (?) said that he read Hillary's book and when he got to the chapter where she said she didn't have any idea that Bill was cheating on her, he decided then that she was definitely not smart enough to be his president.

I'd sooner vote for my mother in law!

[OperaTenor]

I don't know why you guys keep talking about her. Have you met/spoken with a single person who would actually vote for her?

[barfle]

I don't know why you guys keep talking about her. Have you met/spoken with a single person who would actually vote for her?

San Diego is not New York, I'm afraid. And, scary as it seems, yes, I have. Of course he thinks she would be Bill lite, instead of the fact that Bill was Hillary lite.

[jamiebk]

I don't know why you guys keep talking about her. Have you met/spoken with a single person who would actually vote for her?

San Diego is not New York, I'm afraid. And, scary as it seems, yes, I have. Of course he thinks she would be Bill lite, instead of the fact that Bill was Hillary lite.

I guess we know who wore the pants in that family...and Bill certainly wasn't wearing his all of the time.

[shostakovich]

My wife and I would vote for Hillary. She's brighter than most recent presidents, including her husband, and she would move closer to universal health care.
Shos

[barfle]

She's brighter than most recent presidents, including her husband

But he fooled her about Jennifer and Monica, and those are the ones WE know about.

she would move closer to universal health care.

Which is why Bill was actually Hillary lite. If there's a socialist in that family, it's her.

[audiogirl]

I do not believe for a millisecond that Hilary didn't know he was cheating. I'd bet their marriage was politically motivated from the beginning.

[BigJon]

I don't know why you guys keep talking about her. Have you met/spoken with a single person who would actually vote for her?

I've met one person. One.

[BigJon]

Does it matter if she knew? So many other things disqualify her to be president.

[OperaTenor]

My wife and I would vote for Hillary. She's brighter than most recent presidents, including her husband, and she would move closer to universal health care.
Shos

Even over Obama or Edwards(or Gore, if he would only...)?

[shostakovich]

Hi OT. I would vote for any one of them, should he/she win the primary. I don't get to vote in the primary.
Shos

[Haggis@wk]

Protein Wisdom

”The First Black Bill Clinton [ahem]

It appears Obama is running--at least, until his lifeless body is found mysteriously in the parking lot behind the DNC headquarters.

We can only wonder what goes on in Hillary’s sharp, bitter, Machiavellian mind as she sits in front of the fire at night, swirling her cognac and wondering what nubile co-ed Bill’s banging now. Life just isn’t fair.

Her greatest moments are yet to come: Hillary Clinton, First Woman President of the United States. But now, all she’s worked for all her life, ever since she was Class President at Maine South High School, is under siege from an articulate, ruthless shit-heel who has more ambition than her husband but who hasn’t even paid his f*****g dues. Ruthless? You wanna know ruthless?

Time to get medieval… “

I laughed so hard when I read this that Fresca squirted out of my eyes!!

[Shapley]

They still sell Fresca in Texas?

[Nicole Marie]

Obama gets my vote! He's seems more honest than most (OK Stop laughing - honest politicians... )

Plus he has a better shot at beating the Rep nom.