The Cure in the Code: How 20th Century Law is Undermining 21st Century Medicine - Hardcover

Huber, Peter W

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465050689 ISBN 13: 9780465050680

Publisher: Basic Books, 2013

Synopsis

Never before have two revolutions with so much potential to save and prolong human life occurred simultaneously. The converging, synergistic power of the biochemical and digital revolutions now allows us to read every letter of life's code, create precisely targeted drugs to control it, and tailor their use to individual patients. Cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and countless other killers can be vanquished -- if we make full use of the tools of modern drug design and allow doctors the use of modern data gathering and analytical tools when prescribing drugs to their patients.

But Washington stands in the way, clinging to outdated drug-approval protocols developed decades ago during medicine's long battle with the infectious epidemics of the past. Peter Huber, an expert in science, technology, and public policy, demonstrates why Washington's one-size-fits-all drug policies can't deal with diseases rooted in the complex molecular diversity of human bodies. Washington is ill-equipped to handle the torrents of data that now propel the advance of molecular medicine and is reluctant to embrace the statistical methods of the digital age that can. Obsolete economic policies, often rationalized as cost-saving measures, stifle innovation and suppress investment in the medicine that can provide the best cures at the lowest cost.

In the 1980s, an AIDS diagnosis was a death sentence, until the FDA loosened its throttling grip and began streamlining and accelerating approval of life-saving drugs. The Cure in the Code shows patients, doctors, investors, and policy makers what we must now do to capture the full life-saving and cost-saving potential of the revolution in molecular medicine. America has to choose. At stake for America is the power to lead the world in mastering the most free, fecund, competitive, dynamic, and intelligent natural resource on the planet -- the molecular code that spawns human life and controls our health.

About this title

About the Author

Peter Huber is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, where he specializes in issues of drug development, energy, technology, and the law, and is also a partner at the law firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Reviews

Digital and biochemical revolutions have made it possible to decode what ails us and help determine the remedy—if only Washington and the FDA would get out of the way—argues Huber, a lawyer and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation, in this provocative, optimistic look at modern medicine. He envisions a free-market ideology for drug development and usage that, thanks to digital technology, will cheaply design new drugs and predict how well they perform and on whom. But Huber, who popularized the term junk science with his 1991 book Galileo's Revenge: Junk Science in the Courtroom, believes Washington nudges doctors away from the Hippocratic oath to prescribe regimens for the good of my patients and toward veterinarian ethics—the sick dog's treatment is determined by the master's willingness to pay. There's no middle ground in the war between the 20th and 21st century medicine, Huber believes—we must choose between medicine that deals with biochemical reality or is favored by crowd doctors who cling to the view that if they scrutinize, track, certify, and choreograph things just right, they can deliver better medicine to all from afar. Huber's challenge is sure to spark controversy as the U.S. adapts to the Affordable Care Act. (Nov.)

Our ability to read the genetic code heralds a transformation of modern medicine. Yet many potential medical miracles remain throttled. Antiquated and stifling regulations and policies presently handcuff the evolution of molecular medicine. Huber, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, pleads for reforming the drug licensing system and advocates “a culture of discovery and creativity that is willing to take risks and invest patiently in the future.” He cites Herceptin for breast cancer, Gleevec for chronic myelogenous leukemia, and a cocktail of antiviral agents for HIV as examples of the might of molecular medicine. He blames a “muddled and often self-contradictory legal regime”—which includes federal government agencies (notably the FDA), insurance company guidelines, judges, and trial lawyers—for suffocating the advancement of molecular science. Presently, the development of new drugs and vaccines is often a dawdling, more expensive than necessary, and sometimes volatile process. Although Huber’s discussion of the topic is at times dense, his ardor for invigorating pharmaceutical progress is apparent on every page of this scholarly work. --Tony Miksanek

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465050689
• ISBN 13: 9780465050680
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304