Equally tragic but less newsworthy is the fact that unless it is...

Equally tragic but less newsworthy is the fact that unless it is some brand new chemical that can be patented and sold for a king's ransom, it is forgotten. Simpler, safer remedies are never researched. Many eastern remedies are being shown effective in trials, but these are, of necessity, limited in scope.

An example we spoke about here is an old drug useful in some asthma cases has been shown to be very effective rejuvenating old brains in rats. But nobody will do the expensive trials even though dementia is deadly and incurable.

The fund Abbott intended to set up with the GP co-payment would have been great if it left the silver bullet for cancer to others and studied holistic and complementary medicine to show just how useful they can be, or otherwise as the case may be.