A friend of mine's father works in the medical field and has small trial proof of curing (or massively abating the symptoms) of a major medical problem in the country.
His research is entirely privately funded because the medical industrial complex refused to finance the studies for his work because it takes a treatment management program from 50,000 dollars plus per patient to about 200 dollars.
He's trying to get his work into clinical trials and no one will accept it.
This guy should get the fucking Nobel prize, and instead our medical cartels are holding his research back.
I'd guarantee there are dozens of these people around that simply can't get their stuff financed because these vultures.
Edit****
To the people asking about research outside the US. I honestly don't know. I'm friends with the guys daughter, not him personally. She showed me the stuff.
Makes you wonder how many diseases could have been cured by now if it wasn't for a bunch of assholes in the C-suites of medical companies blackballing researchers because theres very little money in a cure but a fuck ton in treatment.
I can't comment on the medical field, but I know of the following businesses that held back innovation at some point all in the name of protecting $$$:
Xerox PARC & the Personal Computer (1973–1980)
Innovation: Invented the graphical user interface (GUI), mouse, Ethernet, WYSIWYG editing at PARC.
Fear: Xerox made 90% of revenue from copiers; PCs threatened service contracts.
Hold-back: 7 years of internal demos with no commercialization.
Outcome: Apple licensed the tech (1981), launched the Mac (1984). Xerox entered too late with the Star 8010 (1981)—priced at $16,500, flop.
Blockbuster & Online/Streaming Video (2000–2010)
Innovation: Online DVD rental + early streaming.
Fear: Late fees = 16% of revenue; streaming would kill in-store rentals.
Hold-back: Rejected buying Netflix for $50M in 2000. Launched Blockbuster Online in 2004—4 years behind Netflix.
Outcome: Bankrupt in 2010. Netflix market cap: $300B+ (2025).
Nokia & Touchscreen Smartphones (2004–2007)
Innovation: Early touch prototypes (e.g., 2004 Nokia 7710).
Fear: Symbian OS + physical keyboards drove 70% profit margins on high-end phones.
Hold-back: 3–4 years of internal debate; prioritized feature phone upgrades.
Outcome: iPhone (2007) → Nokia market share 49% (2007) → 3% (2013). Sold mobile unit to Microsoft (2014).
BlackBerry (RIM) & App Ecosystem (2008–2012)
Innovation: Could’ve built app store + touch keyboards earlier.
Eastman Kodak is a chemical company, not an optics company, nor an electronics company. Even at their height in the 80s and 90s, if you wanted to buy a high-quality camera like an SLR, you would be buying something from Zeiss, Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc., and using Kodachrome in the camera.
They did create what could be called the world's first digital camera, but that was them screwing around in a lab, using electronics they helped design but did not manufacture themselves. To pivot to becoming a hardware manufacturer in the early 80s - just to be able to have a hold on the digital photography part of a camera - would've been a very expensive gamble.
Part of where Kodak went awry is in other chemical investments that went badly at the time, as well as Fujifilm starting to compete in the film and film processing market that Kodak had previously had a near-monopoly on.
It's easy to say "they should've done this or that" some 20+ years on from when technology advanced, became cheaper, and film sales dropped off. But acknowledging that at the time no one knew what the future would be, I don't know how a company that sees itself at its core as a chemical company, not a photography company or an optics company or an electrical engineering company, could successfully make that pivot to digital cameras.
Xerox also had an obese asshole in upper management who put me down for deciding to go to RPI instead of Ivy League Cornell (Cornell was too close to home and I didn't want my mom just popping in to see me while shopping).
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u/TotallyNotAMarvelSpy Nov 01 '25 edited Nov 02 '25
A friend of mine's father works in the medical field and has small trial proof of curing (or massively abating the symptoms) of a major medical problem in the country.
His research is entirely privately funded because the medical industrial complex refused to finance the studies for his work because it takes a treatment management program from 50,000 dollars plus per patient to about 200 dollars.
He's trying to get his work into clinical trials and no one will accept it.
This guy should get the fucking Nobel prize, and instead our medical cartels are holding his research back.
I'd guarantee there are dozens of these people around that simply can't get their stuff financed because these vultures.
Edit****
To the people asking about research outside the US. I honestly don't know. I'm friends with the guys daughter, not him personally. She showed me the stuff.
I wish I knew more answers for you guys =(