Read in the paper today that we are the only country in the Western World where the number of new HIV cases is continuing to rise; makes you kinda proud dunnit?
Did leave me wondering why though - because we are a more promiscuous society or because we are more likely to get tested one way or another, be it a GUM Clinic visit or giving blood.
Either way, it got me thinking of something all the more marcabre, the issue of the hunt for a vaccine.
You see, I don't expect one to appear on the market for decades, if at all. And not because it simply can't be done.
I work for a business, my job is to generate money for it: fairly simple premise, I generate the cash and get a miniscule cut of it. Gives the shareholders their dividend and pays my mortgage all in one go.
But just how seriously do pharmaceutical companies take the search for a HIV Vaccine? I tell you, if I was devoid of ethics I wouldn't, and here's why:
Your job is to generate money for the shareholders, do you:
A: Discover the vaccine, make a short term fortune and then begin another costly hunt for something else to keep the company going or:
B: Discover the vaccine, surpress knowledge of it and continue to make Billions from palliative care remedies that could last a patient decades (or until your patent expires.)
Scary thought eh?
Just had another thought, I need to stop thinking
