End Results Versus Root Causes
The huge regulatory burden placed on new medicine ensures a disproportionate amount of effort goes into finding multiple uses for any given drug. In addition, present regulation forces a focus on patching up the end result rather than addressing the root cause. Here, EurekAlert! notes some progress on the end result known as atherosclerosis: two drugs "decreased inflammatory proteins produced by macrophages, a type of white blood cell. These inflammatory proteins can make the atherosclerotic plaque unstable. ... researchers also measured dramatic decreases in LDL and total cholesterol in the macrophages. ... And the drugs prevented macrophages from turning into foam cells inside arterial walls, which is a key component of the buildup of plaque." But this doesn't address root causes, such as the growth in oxidized LDL resulting from mitochondrial damage and free radical buildup with age. Until medical science can economically focus on root causes, it will continue to be a very expensive, inefficient way of buying a little time.
Link: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-11/wfub-tdm110906.php