We need better drugs -- now - Francis Collins

Today we know the molecular cause of 4,000 diseases, but treatments are available for only 250 of them. So what's taking so long? Geneticist and physician Francis Collins explains why systematic drug discovery is imperative, even for rare and complex diseases, and offers a few solutions -- like teaching old drugs new tricks.

Talk by Francis Collins.

[kittyaya]

I legit have a Ted Ed student talks and I am so happy to come back to these old videos.

[clarenceho]

some other things that can greatly influence "life expectancy" are: war, health insurance policies, the quality of food, the quantity of the food, technical advances and gdp

[clarenceho]

about the apocalypse statement... i meant there's always some small chance of something occurring on a global scale (example dinosaur extinction event).

once again i emphasize IT IS VERY UNLIKELY AN APPOCALYPSE WILL OCCUR (shortly), but there is always a microscopic chance that one will occur.

[clarenceho]

lol, youtube said you replied to my comment.
i added explanations to my comments in case you did and also because i saw that i wasn't clear enough.

[PutuDharmaMahaYusa]

Genetic manipulation is just new modern science, we cannot "cure" genetic dysfunction on someone. It's just more effective and eficient to cure disease by giving medicine.

Now, I ask you, can you do genetic manipulation on someone that get cystic fibrosis?

[clarenceho]

advances haven't occurred this quickly before... that's what i meant

[masterbedsleep]

One by one m8, we will get there you dont do big leaps but take small steps, you can say medicine is better than genetic manipulation since both have their pros and cons

He talks like drugs is the only solution but it isn't.
Genetic manipulation is a valid solution for some of the diseases he mentioned.

Why didn't he mention genetic manipulation?
Greed. Making a human dependent on a overpriced drug is better from a profit standpoint than a one shot genetic modification fix.