America tried to buy a cure for cancer and failed. Maybe it's time for a different approach.

Frequent Infinite Regress linkee Ruxandra Tesslo wrote an op-ed for The New York Times about why we can’t get new cancer cures. Unsurprising for those who have read her past work, she places the bulk of the blame on the glacial speed by which clinical trials are designed, set up and run, at least in the US. Biotechs are looking at other countries — yes, including China — for their next first-in-human trial. All the cures we need are right there in the lab, you see, it is these darn trials that are too slow, keeping patients away from life-saving medicines. There is a nice n-of-one story about a patient with KRAS-mutated lung cancer who received a RAS inhibitor in a phase 1 trial to set the tone. Vinay Prasad calls out a few big omissions in Tesslo’s article, and the number one point he brings out is the number one point I have issue with as well: the science is, in fact, lacking. There are no miracle cures locked in a drawer somewhere, not reaching patients because of government…