Michael J. Fox calls out drug industry for lack of innovation, general lameness

At the BIO 2007 conference in Boston on Monday, Michael J. Fox challenged the drug industry to focus on developing breakthrough treatments for patients. Fox, who suffers from Parkinson’s Disease, has experienced the impact of Big Pharma’s dearth of innovation firsthand. "Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies aren’t interested in high-risk studies critical in determining whether creative ideas could yield therapies for the 20,000 human diseases that have no cure. They are more interested in repackaging old ideas and compounds in an effort to continue reaping vast returns. Levodopa is the gold-standard treatment for Parkinson’s, the disease I live with. Don’t get me wrong, I love my meds… But it’s a little frustrating that the best drug we’ve got i View the rest of this article