Pharmaceutical companies that produce anti-parkinsonian medications are all
based on the Sinemet model. Several tablets per day titrated. The more
tablets you require, the more revenue.
Given the cost of bringing a compound to market which is 200 to 300 million
US dollars, a $50 or $500 dollar shot doesn't make much business sense.
National Parkinson's organizations derive a good portion of their revenues
from drug companies sponsorship of clinical trials and seminars and patient
materials. They are interested in getting the most portion of any
government research. Patients are easily motivated in helping the
organizations reach their goals through lobbying Congress for increases in
funding.
Ideas such as using neutered viruses that will pass the blood-brain barrier
have seemed feasible for several years as a way to get things such as
missing chemicals or compounds into the brain. Startup companies generally
come forward with the best new science...but it takes two to tango.
Most high-tech neuro-biological enterprises are leveraged to the hilt and
have balance sheets in the red...especially if a company with deep pockets
does not buy their technology and research.
It is in the World interest to cure Parkinson's but it doesn't make much
sense to those who are deriving their revenues "treating" Parkinson's.
The surgical techniques and the implant procedures are experimental at best
and do not stop the progression but merely slow it in the best cases.
Government funding and with that "openness" of information is the only way
Parkinson's and other neurological disorders are going to be cured.
Finding a cure for Parkinson's should not be dependent on free enterprise.
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John Cottingham
