A disease that affects 0.00017% of the world's population - Philosophical Question

Imagine this for a moment : A person who you intensely love has Gaucher disease, a disorder that swells internal organs and weakens bones and ultimately leads to death. There is no treatment for this disease as it is so rare that it affects only 10,000 people in the world (i.e 0.00017% of the world population).

The drug companies are not interested in finding a vaccine for this disease because the market for these drugs is so small. They are busy inventing drugs like Viagra and raking in big profits.

Now, imagine that you are the health minister of India. What would you do about this situation?

Bharthi

Dear Bharati,

Here is my point of view, while every life on this earth is precious, it does not make sense to fund a research to discover a medicine for this disease. There are more lives lost in this world due to simple Protein energy malnutrition and complications associated with this. At the same time I do not advocate the big pharmaceuticals spending big bucks on drugs like Viagra!!

Vandhana

Vandhana,

You are making an assumption that funding research for this disease means not funding research for protein malnutrition. It doesn't have to be that way. The world should be able to spend money on both the disease and cut wasterful expenditure elsewhere.

Bharthi, I am not sure what would I do if I were the health minister of India, but "The cure" is a book that was recently published that talks to the very nature of your question. A dad whose children had a rare disease (Pompe disease), quit his job, partnered with a scientist and started a company to find a cure for that disease. He ended up finding the cure! Pretty inspiring story.

Dear Pooja,

The book and its description sounds awsome. Will keep a look out for this book. Thanks for the suggestion.

L, Kamla