NET cancer’s virus

NET cancer kills people. We can debate how many, but at a minimum it is about 1000 people a month.

Acne affects millions of teenagers every year. Some have cases so bad that it leads to depression and–in a very few cases–suicide. But for the vast majority it is merely a part of growing up. Generally, acne vanishes as young people mature.

That’s just wrong.

Thirty months ago a researcher in Sweden developed a virus that kills NET cancer cells in a test tube and in mice. That potential cure remains in a freezer at Uppsala University because no drug company has stepped forward to fund a human trial. They see too little profit to justify the expenditure. Two charitable groups are actively seeking donations from private individuals to fund a Phase I trial.

Acne’s virus

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have discovered that a virus that lives on the skin does to the bacteria that causes acne what the Uppsala virus does to NET cancer. Their anti-acne virus is still in the testing stage and no human trials have been done but they will have little trouble finding a drug company to fund those trials.

Acne sells product…

The tale of these two viral answers illustrates perfectly the problem of relying on market forces to solve problems. I have known many people with horrific cases of acne. They tried everything from daily scrubbings to hydrochloric acid. When Accutane became available I was enormously happy for them.

But a cure for acne is not a cure for NET cancer. It will increase the bottom line of whatever pharmaceutical company wins the rights, but it will not save 1000 lives a month.

The race to market

Supply and demand, however, will put that viral acne drug on a fast track for development and testing the anti-NET cancer virus will never see. There will be no 30+ month wait in a freezer for it. Acne sells product and makes ownership happy.

A cure for acne is not a cure for NET cancer…

In the just over a month since serious fundraising started for the NET cancer virus, iCancer and the Oncolytic Virus Fund have raised a combined total of $121,674. It will cost between $1.6 and $3.2 million to do the initial Phase I trial, so at the current pace we are still 15-30 months away from having the money for that, assuming the current pace is maintained.

Of course the results of that trial will only be recognized in Europe since the FDA does not accept the results of foreign trials, so we will need to find another, equally large chunk of money for a US Phase I trial.

NET cancer’s capital problem

We will also have to come up with the cash for the Phase II and Phase III trials. In Europe, best case scenario, we are five years from approval once the trials start. In the US, again best case, it takes about seven years from the beginning of the first trial.

NET cancer kills people.

The free market will ensure that the acne virus will be curing patients’ skin problems long before the potential NET cancer cure gets out of the starting gate.

That’s just wrong. NET cancer kills–acne doesn’t.