CBC Marketplace: Chasing the Cancer Answer

CBC Marketplace: Chasing the Cancer Answer

Here's part of an interview between Dr. Holland and Wendy Mesley from that show: (you don't have to be to adept at reading between the lines, here, folks...

Dr. James Holland is an oncologist, chemotherapy researcher and one of the founders of the conference (on cancer therapies). When he spoke with Marketplace host Wendy Mesley, he was straightforward about why prevention isn't a bigger priority:

MESLEY: This whole [conference] is about treating cancer, which is great, but why isn't there more on prevention?

HOLLAND: Well, this is a conference on therapies... But prevention is the ultimate goal and I think that you're right. Why is there so little done comparatively in cancer prevention? Because there are no companies that are devoted to cancer prevention as there are to cancer treatment.

MESLEY: Why not?

HOLLAND: Because there's no incentive economically for them.

MESLEY: So drug companies won't invest in prevention until there's a product to sell?

HOLLAND: In order to stay viable, any company has to make at least a break-even. They can't potentially invest all the time in charitable undertakings. That's philanthropy.