I think drugs in the future will be much like leeches and bleeding patients seem to us in the present.
There's very good evidence that all human ailments (or nearly all) come from virus infections when we were children. The lasting effect is often times not seen until much later in life. Take for instance the human genome, it's pack clear full of viral DNA for miles and miles. Clearly we're carrying around far more non-human DNA material we ever imagined. This, along with such things as rickets that develop after having had chicken pox as a child, are beginning to gather more and more attention in research labs. There is also evidence that certain forms of heart disease stem directly from childhood viral infections. This reseach, however, goes directly in the face of big Pharma and will meet great resistance as we come closer and closer to the root cause of disease.
This all combined makes me wonder if someday we'll view drugs as being merely a bandaid to slow down a process we really know very little about.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/12/02122 4091204.htm http://www.immunitytoday.com/chronilandin.html http://www.emergingworlds.com/ch_article.cfm?link= Studies_Find_More_Heart_Disease,_Infection_Links.h tm http://www.emergingworlds.com/ch_conditions_detail .cfm?vPageid=81
(Message edited by jj_downstream on June 25, 2004)