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Drugs, we all need them sooner or later. Huge drug companies have sprung up in the western world that control the medicines that we take. These drug conglomerates are what is know as a double edged sword. While it is true that these huge drug companies have the funds to develop medicines that we might not have otherwise, none of them are about to develop a drug that would cure all our ills. If they did this, they would be out of business. This is one of those cases where the company good comes before the good of humanity. There are also the prices that are being charged for medicines that seem to rise higher than any other segment of our society. It has been said that some of this stuff is exactly the same medicine that is used on farms for the animals, but the difference is that a farmer might only pay a few cents for a pill, but we get charged brutal amounts of money for the same thing. In case anyone out there thinks that I am making this up, just look in the difference in price between the exact same drugs sold in Canada and here. Why is it that they can be sold cheaper in Canada? These companies went so far as to threaten Canada that they would be cut off if they sold some of their drugs to Americans.

First of all, of all our diseases, the one that most people would like to see cured first or at least gotten under control is cancer. Presently there are about 650 drugs being developed to treat this illness. These drugs can be broken down further to about 80 for breast cancer and roughly 100 for lung cancer. The toughest cancer to treat is brain cancer. A synthetic form of a substance that comes from scorpions, that is called chlorotoxin is being developed. It is being developed to be used as a radiopharmaceutical. It is said to bind with tumor cells but not normal ones. Prostate cancer is another big killer in men. A vaccine is being developed that would spur on the body's immune system to fight this cancer. So far this has been used in trials and the survival rate has tripled. Melanoma is a serious skin cancer. Another immune system enhancer is being developed to fight this. It is hoped that the body will then see the cancer as a foreign body and destroy it. One more example is that of a new drug being developed to fight colorectal cancer. It is hoped that this drug will not only stop cancer cells from growing but will destroy existing ones. I could go on, but you now have at least an idea of what is coming down the road in this area. There are many more medicines being developed to fight different types of cancer, but I don't see anyone working on a way to eradicate cancer the way they did Polio before it began to come back.

One of the things that we are worried about right now is contamination. It could come from a terrorist attack or it could be caused by an accident. Either way, it presents a big problem. Scientists have been working furiously to develop new decontaminates and it is said that there are a ton of them that are almost ready. The most promising one is the one that contains suspended tiny oil droplets which will attach themselves to a biological contaminant and blow it up. This is said to work great against biological agents and even spores, because the drops are so small that they interact even with the spores, stopping them from germinating. It is said that this stuff is harmless to humans and that even if we drank it, it would cause no harm. This is said to make the material ideal to decontaminate humans. Scientists are looking into whether this decontaminate can be put into food and water safely. It may turn out that this will become the One Decontaminate That Fits All. The military is still gun shy when it comes to testing it, after the agent orange problems it had in Vietnam. This can be understood by anyone who was around in those days.

Everyone is talking about genetic medicines. This is a tough area for medicine because there has to be some sort of link between clinical practice and knowledge of organic molecules. This really doesn't exist yet and will require a completely different way of thinking and proceeding in medical offices. It is said that in the future, your complete genetic profile will be on your birth certificate. Doctors will know the propensity for people to get certain diseases when they are born and they will be able to treat these things so that they never come about. An example of this are allergies. They will become a thing of the past. When you do get sick, drugs will be tailored to your exact genetic profile, giving you much better results. All this information about you also means more for people to steal, so it will have to be guarded carefully, but I think that we all know by now, that a lot of it will be stolen, no matter what we are told.

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In 1990 the top ten drug companies had profits of approximately 25%, this included European drug companies as well. In 2002 the Fortune 500 drug companies had 5 1/2 times the median profits of all the other Fortune 500 companies. Here is a funny thing, all companies in the Fortune 500 suffered a combined loss of 66.3% in profits from 2001 to 2002. For the same time period, the ten drug companies made more than 1/2 the profits of the rest of the entire Fortune 500 companies. Do you think there is something wrong here? This is great for the stock holders, but not very good for those that need to buy medicine. One drug company outperformed the Fortune 500 median by 8.5 times. Hey I am not against corporations making money, but not on the backs of suffering elderly people that have to choose between buying their overpriced drugs or eating.

So what is in our future as far as new drugs and procedures are concerned? Nanobots are being worked on and it seems that great progress is being made in this field. These are microscopic machines that will be able to enter the body and do repair work from the inside. They are so small that you need a microscope to see them. They may even be able to enter your blood stream someday and do instant repairs. When they are no longer needed, they will be excreted. Speaking of Excretion, your toilet will become a laboratory and analyze all bodily excretions. If something is wrong it will send the results to your doctor. You see, you toilet will be on the internet and capable of communication. This just seems so funny to someone from my generation.

If the human race doesn't destroy itself, it should be in much better health in the future.