Hey Everybody,
Let’s start this post of with a riddle of sorts.
Their are two jars of jelly beans, each about the size of a gallon of milk. One is nearly full, the other only has a few beans at the bottom. There is a crowd around the nearly-full jar that keeps putting jelly beans into it, and now it’s getting to the point where it’s about to overflow. Meanwhile, the few people who’ve been putting beans into the near-empty jar notice the crowd, and start putting their jelly beans in with the rest of them. Now the jar is spilling onto the ground, jelly beans scattering in every direction, and people keep adding to the pile, not putting any into the nearly empty jar.
You stand there with a fist-full of beans, wondering why this only seems crazy to you.
Now, I will admit that wasn’t much of a riddle, and even as an example, it’s a pretty far-fetched and ludicrous one. Though for the sake of illustration, it helps start the conversation on why we don’t believe non-profits should be funding treatments. Quite frankly, it’s just throwing more money into a bloated, chaotic system, instead of using it more effectively.
Now, it should be said that we are not against treatment innovations by themselves. While we are dead-set on a cure, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention just how far treatment of this disease has come over the years. With improved treatment, diabetics are able to lead longer, healthier lives than ever before.
However, no treatment innovations have come from non-profits in over two decades. This is a fact. In our report Treatment Innovations Have Not Derived From Non-Profits, we discuss that all major treatment innovations ( better needles, the creation of the pump, better testers, etc.) have derived from the for-profit world. They are incentivized to do this. Ugly or not, diabetes is a big business, and there’s a lot of money to be made by keeping us attached to various forms of medical treatment.
This is why we don’t think non-profits should be funding treatments, and should focus funding towards a cure. The for-profit pharmaceutical industry is going to continue to improve on treatments, because THAT’S HOW THEY MAKE MONEY. There’s no point in pouring donations into an industry that will continue to flourish and expand without such help. In fact, the money from non-profits is little more than a raindrop into the ocean compared to how much money these corporations continue to invest. It’s a much wiser investment ( and truer to most donor’s intentions) if this money was put towards cure research funding, an area where the for-profit world isn’t going to touch.
With more focus and re-alignment, we can help pave the way to a practical cure.
Until Next Time
–Nick
