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My father currently suffers from bladder cancer, he's currently in palliative care, he's in Ukraine. If there are any medical professionals here, could someone provide an advice - is there any chance to get him access to TAR-200?
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You’re right, those bright, talented kids will just give up and quit their careers because US government funding has been reduced for research in their field. It’s so sad that the only way innovation can happen is if it’s funded by the government.
Governments fund a massive percentage of the foundational work that is necessary for productizable innovations, that precedes it by decades. Private companies rarely fund this type of work.
Take AI. All of the current models are descendants of the work of Geoff Hinton. He labored for decades in academic obscurity, when AI was a punchline. It was only after these decades of government support did he get a result interesting enough for Google to hire him.
There are countless other examples like this, lithium batteries, GPS, the Internet. GLP-1 drugs came from the study of gila monsters.
The doctor performed a rather uncomfortable surgery (the pathway for a man is not pleasant) and then injected the TB virus into his bladder, which is apparently an effective treatment for this type of cancer.
It's been 20 years now, no recurrence. Think he was treated at Dana Farber in Boston.
Having gone through what was likely a life saving treatment he has become, ironically, anti-western medicine -- don't blame him, having a surgical implement shoved up main street doesn't sound like a walk in the park :)
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Unfortunately the recurrence rate after 1 year here is still quite high. Good progress, but not a cure yet.
Bladder cancer has a notoriously high recurrence rate, unfortunately. (I worked for years in NMIBC molecular diagnostics.)
It's 82% of those whose bladder cancer is fortunately not invading the muscle, and after failing current standard treatments.
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It is expressly limited by the Visa application, process and requirements that are agreed to as part of obtaining a Visa to enter the US.
You keep claiming that. I can't find it in the document you linked. I think you are mistaken.
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The model proved itself, so consensus can be reached in other places to reach parity if the issue is important to them
I have no idea what you even mean by this. Are you suggesting the rest of the world, with no centralized government or single budget, could grow to match what the USA previously had because it worked in the USA?
privately held wealth far eclipses other metrics like gdp
My (non-AI) Summary: - "TAR-200 is a miniature, pretzel-shaped drug-device duo containing a chemotherapy drug, gemcitabine, which is inserted into the bladder through a catheter. Once inside the bladder, the TAR-200 slowly and consistently releases the gemcitabine into the organ for three weeks per treatment cycle." - Phase 2 Clinical Trial - 85 patients with high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer - "treated pa…
Unfortunately the recurrence rate after 1 year here is still quite high. Good progress, but not a cure yet.
This is an unusually effective treatment with remarkably smaller side effects.
If it is this good, it will probably start getting used more broadly.
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You’re right, those bright, talented kids will just give up and quit their careers because US government funding has been reduced for research in their field. It’s so sad that the only way innovation can happen is if it’s funded by the government.
The government doesn’t just “fund innovation” — it creates the fertile ground where it can happen at all. It also bankrolls the unprofitable, high-risk research the private sector can’t or won’t touch. Cut that, and you’re ripping out the roots, not just trimming a branch.
At best all government can do is get out of the way so that private actors can solve problems and innovate. At worst it strangles innovators through higher taxes and more stringent regulation.
Look at the light bulb, locomotive engine, airplane, etc. Government involvement in major innovations is almost always peripheral.