<div dir="ltr">Apologies, my browser is not letting me edit the name of this email  :(<div><br></div><div>To answer the question below about basic research, please keep in mind not all the research is - or should - be done by big pharma. Academics (should) get funding to do basic research, so a problem arises is when academics team up with pharma to push a profit agenda forward.</div><div><br></div><div>As a libertarian myself, I have no problem with making money, and believe that people doing work should be paid for it. But basic discovery is the work of science, while making a discovery into something marketable is the job of industry. Crossing those lines leads to market distortion, and bad incentives.</div><div><br></div><div>Personally, I have done such basic pharmaceutical research as an academic, to develop a molecule called epibatidine as a non-narcotic pain reliever.  This promising molecule is still being studied by others and will present a novel class of very effective, no-narcotic pain relievers once the toxicity and bio-availability issues are solved. This research started in the lab as a basic biochemistry sort of question (why does this frog-secreted molecule block pain in mammals??) and once that was learned (it is an agonist of nicotinic receptors, which blocks pain perception), pharma joined the academics to develop this potential drug.</div><div><br></div><div>So, IMHO, the answer to finding novel and effective pharmaceuticals is to keep academics academic, not profit-motivated, and continue to fund basic and undirected research.</div><div><br></div><div>--Regina</div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>Date: Tue, 26 Sep 2017 15:23:22 -0400<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>From: Dave Sill <<a href="mailto:sparge@gmail.com">sparge@gmail.com</a>><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>To: ExI chat list <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.<wbr>org</a>><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>Subject: Re: [ExI] addiction solution?<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote><SNIP!></div><div class="gmail_quote">..........<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>You sort of answered it above: money. Drug testing and marketing are<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>expensive. Supplements aren't novel so they aren't patentable, therefore,<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>drug companies have no incentive to develop them as products.<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>>This needs to change.  How can we get people who have no monetary interest<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>> in the outcomes of supplement studies to do quality scientific work to find<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>> out what works and what doesn't?<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>They have to get funding somewhere. I'm a libertarian and fundamentally<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>distrust the government, but I'd gladly support cutting the DoD budget by<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>2% and reallocating half of that to supplement research.<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
</blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote>-Dave</div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><br></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);border-right:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex;padding-right:1ex"></blockquote></div><br></div></div></div></div>