"Biotech and pharmaceutical companies are good at what they do" and so "it's important (for academia) to work closely with them" to evaluate nutrients as chemopreventative and treatment agents? Really? Why would academics work with pharma co's in evaluating nutrients for disease prevention? Seems counter-productive to me if the goal is treating or preventing illness through diet. Beta-carotene is just one in a long line of failed attempts to isolate single nutrients as therapeutic agents for diseases like cancer, and I have to at least acknowledge that most of that study's funding came from a pharmaceutical co. Seems to me we'd get better research in this area if the profit motive stayed away. These studies take promising results and veer inquiry immediately toward making money off it. Because there's no money in carrots or broccoli, the public loses. Because academia partners with biotech, the public loses.
"Biotech and pharmaceutical companies are good at what they do" and so "it's important (for academia) to work closely with them" to evaluate nutrients as chemopreventative and treatment agents?
Really? Why would academics work with pharma co's in evaluating nutrients for disease prevention? Seems counter-productive to me if the goal is treating or preventing illness through diet.
Beta-carotene is just one in a long line of failed attempts to isolate single nutrients as therapeutic agents for diseases like cancer, and I have to at least acknowledge that most of that study's funding came from a pharmaceutical co.
Seems to me we'd get better research in this area if the profit motive stayed away. These studies take promising results and veer inquiry immediately toward making money off it.
Because there's no money in carrots or broccoli, the public loses. Because academia partners with biotech, the public loses.