The National Institutes of Health, 10 large drug companies and seven nonprofit organizations announced an unconventional partnership on Tuesday intended to speed up development of drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease, Type 2 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

During the course of a five-year, $230 million effort, the participants will share data in regular conference calls and meetings, working together to determine which findings are likely to lead to effective treatments. They will make their findings and data publicly available.

...What concerns me about this is the emphasis on drugs. There are better ways to adjust physiology than taking in foreign substances. And there are more useful things we could study. Like food, and exercise, and how to they affect our biochemical and electrical mileau. Sex, we should throw more money at studying sex and how it affects neurotransmitters. On the effects of chewing gum and on understanding the endocrinology of sexual preference. And on why our hearts slow down as we age, and a million other questions. I'm just curious: I really want to know the answers. I wish that the money spent on medical research was directed more by altruism and less by profit motive.

SOURCE
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/05/health/nih-joins-drug-makers-and-nonprofits-on-stubborn-diseases.html