Missing out on valuable drugs

Re “Osteoporosis drug appears to help fractures,” April 15

There is probably no better evidence of the need for reform in the nation’s healthcare policies than your paper’s revelation that “studies as early as the 1930s showed that parathyroid hormone injections increase bone density and healing in animals. But because the drug could not be patented, pharmaceutical companies were loath to expend money on clinical trials.”

How many other possibly life-saving drugs have been languishing unexplored, simply because they “could not be patented”? If, as is likely, there are more, maybe we should consider those who’ve needlessly suffered and died as unwitting heroes in the battle for a healthcare policy that protects the public while still encouraging valuable accomplishments from the private sector.

Marty Veselich

Playa del Rey