Biomedical Industrial Complex?

“When I was a student, I remember thinking about sick cancer patients and being brought almost to tears. That emotion was part of what drew me into cancer research; it felt like the most meaningful way to use science to help people.

But over time, I learned how that emotion gets monetized. Money pours into anything even vaguely associated with cancer research. Federal grants with the word cancer in the body are treated as sacred. Vast sums flow into university cancer centers with layers of bureaucracy, fundraising arms, and administrators who never see a patient or do a single piece of research. There are countless cancer charities and nonprofit academic cancer centers where executives make exorbitant pay. Questioning whether any of this actually helps patients or advances science is treated as heresy.” — Jason Locasale, PhD