Biotech Values

[iwfal]

I can cite the past 20 years of clinical data in HIV as indicative of the direction in which HCV is heading.

Great. But I can cite counterpoints - e.g. the rate of relapse in immunocompromised individuals. (The great thing about counterpoints is that it is much much easier to wipe out a carefully constructed argument than it is to create it.)

As you well know science, like any field, gets trendy. See AD or the role of inflamatory processes in heart disease. Without making any judgements into who is right and wrong it is very clear that many of the decisions are driven not by data but by cultural context. Eventually the data wins out - but sometimes it takes decades.

Bottom line - there are one or two scientists in health science that I take with high trust. The rest require verification (which is a very very lengthy process)