Not working on the paper...
Disclaimer: This is VERY tongue-in-cheek
I'm working on a paper about prescription medications and marketing and how drugs that really aren't the best choice are pushed by drug companies using skewed studies and marketing. I think that's the answer for Lyme (at least in the short term):
Chronic Lyme requires expensive antibiotics for a long time. Insurance companies don't want to pay for them, and a group of doctors is pushing to keep chronic Lyme from being recognized. No real research is being done for it at the moment. Right now, Lyme advocacy groups are pushing for Congress to pass a this bill, but the more I read about prescription drugs, the more I am convinced we are going about this in the wrong way. The solution is to convince some big drug company that if they can produce a study showing that their particular antibiotic treated Lyme, they would have a monopoly on the Lyme patients clamoring for recognition and treatment. They get their patent and then start to work their sneaky business magic with the disease and drug: put out tons of DTC advertising to turn the public opinion in favor of Lyme, suppress any studies contradicting their bias, and sponsor tons of CME for doctors to 'educate' them on Lyme and how to treat it using the new, wonderful antibiotic. Yes, this is the way to do it.
I'm working on a paper about prescription medications and marketing and how drugs that really aren't the best choice are pushed by drug companies using skewed studies and marketing. I think that's the answer for Lyme (at least in the short term):
Chronic Lyme requires expensive antibiotics for a long time. Insurance companies don't want to pay for them, and a group of doctors is pushing to keep chronic Lyme from being recognized. No real research is being done for it at the moment. Right now, Lyme advocacy groups are pushing for Congress to pass a this bill, but the more I read about prescription drugs, the more I am convinced we are going about this in the wrong way. The solution is to convince some big drug company that if they can produce a study showing that their particular antibiotic treated Lyme, they would have a monopoly on the Lyme patients clamoring for recognition and treatment. They get their patent and then start to work their sneaky business magic with the disease and drug: put out tons of DTC advertising to turn the public opinion in favor of Lyme, suppress any studies contradicting their bias, and sponsor tons of CME for doctors to 'educate' them on Lyme and how to treat it using the new, wonderful antibiotic. Yes, this is the way to do it.